TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER, 

Charles Bruce, of staunton hill, Virginia, 

AND OF MY UNCLE, 

[lames eolcs Bruce, OF berry HILL, VIRGINIA, 

AS REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL THAT WAS LOFTIEST AND NOBLEST 

IN THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 

OF THE 

GREAT SOUTHERN LANDOWNERS AND SLAVEHOLDERS 

OF THE PAST 



>\ 



X 



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/Jb 



PREFACE. 



No one who studies the purely social aspects of 
Virginian life in the seventeenth century can fail to 
be impressed with the paucity and poverty of the ma- 
terials that touch directly upon the subject. Except- 
ing a few brief summaries of personal observations in 
the Colony resembling those left by Colonel Henry 
Norwood, the Rev. John Clayton, and the author of Leah 
and Rachel, nothing that can be correctly described as 
Travels in the Virginia of that day, after it had become 
a populous community, with a definite character of its 
own, is in existence. Nor are there any extended 
biographies of the principal citizens belonging to the 
periods following the first colonization to supply in- 
directly information of value. The nearest approach 
to personal memoirs is to be found in the letter-books 
of William Fitzhugh and William Byrd, which, how- 
ever, are, in substance, simply correspondence about 
dry business matters. Beverley's History, while full 
of vivid details, really relates to the last years of the 
seventeenth century and to the first of the eighteenth. 
To acquire an accurate conception of the Virginian 
social life from 1607 to 1700, the student 'must examine 
a very large mass of miscellaneous printed and manu- 
script materials which are primarily concerned with 
other subjects, such, for instance, as the pamphlets 
preserved in Force's Historical Tracts, the Virginian 
parish registers, the original colonial documents now 
in the custody of the British State Paper Office in 



6 Preface. 

London, and above all, the several hundred volumes of 
the Virginian county records of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, which still survive. These are the chief, al- 
though not the only, sources of information ; and to 
these, as well as to all other sources known to me, I 
have had access in person, with a view to the prepa- 
ration of the present volume. 

In one particular alone have I been compelled to rely 
on the special researches of others. The knowledge of 
American genealogy in general, as so far accumulated, 
is chiefly the result of the labors of students who re- 
spectively have devoted many years, — in some in- 
stances, indeed, a lifetime, — to the investigation of the 
history of a single family in all its ramifications. This 
is as true of those who have pursued their inquiries 
in the field of Virginia Genealogy as of those who 
have pursued their inquiries in the field of New Eng- 
land or New York. It is only quite recently that the 
study of Virginian family history has been carried on 
in a thoroughly scientific spirit, but we have already 
secured, by the zeal and industry of scholars so well 
known in this department of research as Alexander 
Brown, Rev. Philip Slaughter, Rev. Horace E. Hay- 
den, Charles P. Keith, Edward Wilson James, William 
G. Stanard, Lyon G. Tyler, and others who might be 
named, a great volume of trustworthy genealogical 
information, which, when considered as a whole, 
throws a decisive light on the origin of the higher 
planting class of Virginia in the seventeenth century. 

The conclusions touching this subject set forth in 
the present work are based on the results of the spe- 
cial investigations so far made by all those who have 
been active in this particular department ; and I am 



Preface. 7 

confident that further investigations of the same char- 
acter will only go to confirm more unmistakably the 
correctness of these conclusions. 

In the present volume I have taken another step 
forward in the study of the conditions prevailing in 
Virginia in the seventeenth century begun in my Econo- 
mic History; and I propose following it up with even 
more extended monographs on Religion and Morals, 
Education, Legal Administration, Military System, and 
Political Condition, which, under the general head of 
Institutional History of Virginia in the Scvcntcnth cen- 
tury, would complete the study of the century as relating 
to that colony. 

Philip Alexander Bruce. 

Norfolk, Va., April 25, 1907. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Size and Population, 13 

II. Influences Promoting English Emi- 
gration, 23 

III. Origin of the Higher Planting Class, 39 

IV. Origin of the Higher Planting Class — 

Continued 51 

V. Origin of the Higher Planting Class — 

Continued 68 

VI. Origin of the Higher Planting Class — 

Continued 83 

VII. Social Distinctions, 101 

VIII. Social Distinctions — Continued, 125 

IX. Social Spirit — Ties with the Mother 

Country, 140 

X. Social Spirit — Manner of Life, 157 

XI. Social Spirit — Hospitality of People, 170 

: XII. Popular Diversions — Drinking and 

Dancing, 177 

XIII. Popular Diversions — Acting and Gam es, [86 

XIV. Popular Diversions — Horse-Racing, . . . 194 



io CONTENTS. ' ' 

XV. Popular Diversions — Hunting and 

Fishing, 211 

XVI. Public and Private Occasions — The 

Funeral, 218 

XVII. Public and Private Occasions — The 

Wedding, 223 

XVIII. Publi'c and Private Occasions — 

Church, Court-Day and Muster, 239 

XIX. Duelling, 245 

XX. Conclusion, 250 

Appendix 258 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



The following is the list of works quoted in the Notes and 
References of the present volume as the authorities for specific 
statements made in the hody of the text. The long list of works 
contained in the bibliography appended to the author's "Economic 
History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century" was also care- 
fully consulted: 
Accomac County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, original 

volumes, county court-house. 
Allerton, Walter J., Allerton Family, Chicago, 111., 1900. 
Ancestor, The, A Quarterly Review, London and Philadelphia. 
Baird, Rev. Charles \V., Huguenot. Emigration to America, New 

York, 1884. 
Beverley, Robert, History of Virginia, Richmond, Va., 1855. 
British Colonial Papers, originals, British State Paper Office, 

London. 
Brown, Alexander — Genesis of United States, 2 vols., Boston, 

Mass.; First Republic in America, Boston, Mass., 18D8. 
Bruce, Philip Alexander, Economic History of Virginia iu Seven- 
teenth Century, New York, 1896. 
Byrd, William, Letters of, Va. Hist, Soc, MSS. Coll. 
Byrd Deed Book, Va. Hist. Soc. MSS. Coll. 
Campbell, Charles, Spotswood Family, Albany, N. Y., 1868. 
Chappell, E., Chappell Family, Kansas City, Mo. 
Christ Church, Middlesex county (Va.) Parish Register. 
Cogbill, James C, Family of Cogbill, Cambridge, Ma—.. 1879. 
Crawford Family of Virginia. 
Critic Newspaper, Richmond, Va. 
Uinwiddie Papers, Va. Ili>t. Soc. Pubs. 
Elizabeth City County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

certified copies, Va. St. Libr. 
Essex County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified 

copies, Va. State Libr. 
Parnham (Va.) Parish Register. 

Fitzhugh, William, Letters of, Va. Hist. Soc, MSS. Cull. 
Fulhain Palace, Lonaon, MSS. relating to Colonial Virginia. 



12 Bibliography. 

General Court (Va.) Records, Vol. 1670-76, Va. Hist. Soc, MSS. 

Coll. 
Goode, Brown, Goode Family, Richmond, Va., 1887. 
Goodwyn Family of America, compiled by L. G. Tyler, Richmond, 

Va'., 1895. 
Green, Raleigh T., Notes on Culpeper County, Va., 1900. 
Green, Thomas M., Historic Families of Kentucky, Cincinnati, O. 

1889. 
Green, B. W., Word Book of Virginia Folk Speech, Richmond, Va. 
Hayden, Rev. E., Virginia Genealogies, Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
Henning, W. W., Va. Statutes at Large, Richmond, Va., 1812. 
Henrico County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified 

copies, Va. State Libr. 
Homer, J., Blair, Banister and Braxton Families. 
Hotten, J. C, Original Lists of Emigrants to America, 1600-1700, 

N. 1\, 1874. 
Hume, John Robert, Hume Family, St. Louis, Mo., 1903. 
isle of Wight County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals, county court-house. 
Keith, Charles P., Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, Philadelphia, 

Pa., 1893. 
Lancaster County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, origi- 
nals, county court-house. 
Lambeth Palace, London, MSS., Relating to Virginia. 
Lee, Edward J., Lee of Virginia, Pliila., Pa., 1895. 
Lower Norfolk County .Va.) Antiquary, edited by Edward Wilson 

James. 
Lower Norfolk County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals, Portsmouth, Va. 
Maryland Archives, Proceedings of Council, Md. Hist. Soc, Coll. 
Maury, Colonel R. L. Huguenots in Virginia, reprint. 
Meade, Rt. Rev. William, Old Churches, Ministers and Families 

of Virginia, Philadelphia', Pa., 1857. 
Middlesex County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, origi- 
nals, county court-house. 
Montague, Peter, History of Genealogy of, Amherst, Mass., 1894. 
Neill, Rev. E. D— Va. Company of London, 1606-24, Albany, 1869; 

Va. Caralorum, Albany, 1869. 
Northampton County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals county court-house. 



Bibliography. 13 

Northumberland County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals, county court-house. 
Page, Channing M., Genealogy of Page Family. 
Parish Registers, Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Va. 
Princess Anne County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals, county court-house. 
Randolph MSS., 3 volumes, Va'. Hist. Soc. MSS. Coll. 
Rappahannock County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

certified copies Va. State Library. 
Richmond County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, origi- 
nals, county court-house. 
Sainsbury, E. Noel, Abstracts of Va. Colonial Documents in 

British State Paper Office, Va'. State Libr. 
Slaughter, Rev. Philip, History of Bristol Parish and History of 

S. F. George's Parish, Richmond, Va., 1890. 
Smith, Captain John, Works of, Richmond, Va. 
Spotswood, Letters of Governor, Va. Hist. Soc. Pubs. 
Stanard, W. G., chart of descendants of Rev. Robert Rose, Rich- 
mond, Va., 1898. 
Surry County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified 

copies, Va. State Libr. 
Thomas, Major R. S., Four Square and Fox Hunting, Smithfield, 

Va., 1905. 
Tyler, Lyon G., Cradle of the Republic, Richmond, Va., 1900. 
Upshur, T. T., Sir George, and Temperance Yeardley and Some of 

Their Descendants. Reprint, 1896. 
Virginia Company of London, Abstracts of Proceedings, Va. Hist. 

Soc, Pubs. 
Virginia Colonial Records, State Senate Document. Extra. 1874. 
Virginia Land Patent Books, Va. State Capitol, Richmond. 
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Va., Hist. Soc, Pubs. 
Virginia, Present State of, 1697-8, by Hartwell, Chilton and Blair. 
Waters, Henry F., Genealogical Gleanings in England, Boston, 

1901. 
Westmoreland County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, 

originals, county court-house. 
William, and Mary College Quarterly. 
York County (Va.) Records for Seventeenth Century, certified 

copies, Va. State Libr. 



The Social Life ^/Virginia 

IN THE 

Seventeenth Century. 



Size of Population. 



DURING the first decades following the earliest 
settlement of Virginia, when the number of its 
inhabitants had not expanded beyond a few thou- 
sands, it was not a difficult task to make out a com- 
plete and accurate roll even of their names. A census 
was taken in 1625, and also in i634-'5, nearly ten years 
later, and there is no reason to think that the results 
of the counts made at these dates were not strictly cor- 
rect, since the area stolen from the primeval forest 
and occupied was still so narrow as to allow even a 
few enumerators to pass over it in a comparatively 
short time. But as the population grew, and the plan- 
tations spread out more and more widely and irregu- 
larly, thus pushing many families into remote and al- 
most unknown corners of the frontier, it became less 
and less easy to find out from war to year, or decade to 
decade, the precise number of people having their 
homes in the Colony. The census of iG-i^-'s was, per- 
haps, the last one of the seventeenth century taken 
after the manner of a modern census, which ascertains 
every fact with extreme exactness. As the century 



14 The Social Life of Virginia 

drew on there were several enumerations of population 
as well as of the different kinds of property owned by 
the Virginians, but they were the result rather of 
private calculation than of actual count. 1 

A statement was sent up to Jamestown each year 
from every county as to the number of its tithables 
that year. This information was required by the 
House of Burgesses, because the number of tithables 
in all the counties united constituted the basis of the 
public levy annually ordered by that body as the foun- 
tain head of the taxing power of the Colony. With 
this complete list of tithables at hand to go by, it was 
easy to fix with a fair degree of accuracy the size of 
the population at the time the list was taken. Through- 
out the seventeenth century the rule was to estimate 
the unknown number of inhabitants at thrice the 
known number of tithables, and this was for all prac- 
tical purposes a trustworthy method of ascertaining. 
As long as the number of tithables was correctly re- 

1 A striking illustration of this will be found in the well-known 
enumeration given in the New Description of Virginia. The 
author of that pamphlet estimated the population in 1649 at 
15,000 whites and 300 blacks; the number of cows, bulls, calves 
and oxen at 20,000 ; and the number of horses at 200, etc. By an 
act passed in 1G45, and not repealed until 1648, not only tithables, 
but also land and live-stock of all kinds were made returnable for 
taxation. The calculation of the writer of the New Description 
was, doubtless, based on the figures entered in the tax lists of 
1648, which were perhaps the most complete for all forms of 
property recorded in the history of the Colony previous to 1700, 
because it was during this short interval alone, that live-stock 
and land were subject to the levy. It was only in a narrow sense 
that the county conirnancr could be looked upon as a census- 
taker, for his duty in this respect seems to have been confined to 
returning a full list cf the persons eligible for military service. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 15 

turned, the colonial authorities felt no burning inter- 
est in the size of the population. That size was only 
important ordinarily as forming the basis of taxation, 
and extraordinarily, as forming the basis of a militia 
muster to resist an attack by an Indian foe or inva- 
sion by a foreign enemy. In those distant times, when 
political economy was yet to be reduced to a science, 
the administrative authorities even in England con- 
cerned themselves but little with any aspect of popu- 
lation except such as related to the income required 
for the support of government, or to the soldiers 
needed for the defense of the soil. This was peculi- 
arly so in a remote colony like Virginia, where the in- 
habitants were dispersed very thinly over the face of 
a wide and uneven area of partially cleared planta- 
tions ; where there were neither cities, nor towns, nor 
even villages or hamlets, and where the whole eco- 
nomic system showed a remarkable degree of simplic- 
ity and monotony. 

In 1619 it was estimated that the population of Vir- 
ginia of English descent did not exceed twenty-four 
hundred persons. About this time the annual addition 
to it from the Mother Country was thought to be close 
upon twelve hundred ; and this was probably correct, 
for in one year, 1621, for instance, everyone of the 
twelve ships that came out to the Colony brought over 
a detachment, more or less large, of new settlers. 2 
These yearly accessions, with the natural increase, 
would have swelled the number of inhabitants at a 
very rapid rate had not the mortality precipitated by 
a change of diet and climate been extraordinarily great 
even for that age, when so little care was exercised 
Broadside, Doet. 16, Colonial Papers, Vol. T. 



i6 The Social Life of Virginia 

in observing the general laws of health. It was com- 
puted by one contemporary authority that, during the 
first thirty years following the earliest settlement of 
Virginia, not less than five of every six persons landed 
on its shores soon succumbed to one disease or an- 
other, but principally to the debilitating influence of 
the period of seasoning, at which time the newcomer, 
accustomed from his birth to the more veiled rays of 
the English sun and the greater equableness of the 
English air, was first exposed to a semi-tropical blaze 
in the corn and tobacco fields in July, August, and Sep- 
tember, or to those rapid alternations of the atmos- 
phere marking the other parts of the year. The same 
writer asserts that, in the course of these thirty years, 
one hundred thousand persons died in the Colony. 3 If 
this statement was intended to apply to new settlers 
alone, it probably greatly exaggerated the mortality, 
but there is no room for doubt that the death rate, 
down to the middle of the century at least, was far be- 
yond anything occurring in modern times within the 
temperate zone, and was only comparable to the rate 
prevailing among raw Europeans settled in the Delta 
of the Amazon or of the Niger. As the woods van- 
ished before the axes of the colonists, and as the area 
of drained and cultivated soil spread back from the 
river banks to the foot of the higher lands, the hoarded 
malaria of the country steadily grew less ; the people 
too gradually acquired from experience and observa- 
tion a juster idea as to how to combat the poisonous 
influences of the newly upturned mould, the fetid 
marshes, and the burning sun ; and the general health- 
fulness of all the plantations advanced. The rate of 
3 New Albion, p. 5, Force's Hist. Tracts Vol. II. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 17 

mortality for the whole population also steadily dimin- 
ished as the number of persons born in the Colony, 
and, therefore, accustomed to the climate from birth, 
increased. 

The death rate among those passing through the 
period of seasoning must, however, have always re- 
mained high. As if the climate was not fatal enough 
in its influence on the health of the new-comers dur- 
ing the first years after the earliest settlement, the 
Indian tomahawk had to come into play to swell fur- 
ther the lists of the dead. A few months after the 
Massacre of 1622 the number of inhabitants was sup- 
posed to be about twelve hundred and seventy-seven. 4 
The census of 1625 shows a population of only twelve 
hundred and two, an actual decline as compared with 
the population surviving the terrible catastrophe of 
a few years before. During this brief interval famine 
and disease had further cut down the number of in- 
habitants, and the massacre, together with the great 
discouragements following it, had checked immigra- 
tion from England. By 1628 the population, in spite 
of the renewed flow of new settlers, had grown to onlv 
three thousand. "' In the following year an observer 
upon the ground, who had long been a prominent 
resident of Virginia, William Pierce, estimated the 
number of people in the Colony at a figure ranging 
from four to five thousand ; but only one year later 
Governor Harvey stated that the population did not 
exceed twenty-five hundred. 7 At the end of four year-; 

4 Colonial Records of Va. State Senate Doct. Extra, 1874, p. 89. 

"■ British Colonial Papers. Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 32. 

"British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., 1629-30, No. 24. 

'Harvey to Privy Council, British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., 
1629-30, No. 9.'.. 



18 The Social Life of Virginia 

more the population was supposed to be fifty-one hun- 
dred and nineteen, which, if Harvey's calculation was 
correct, represented an annual increase since 1628 of 
about three hundred and fifteen only. 8 A formal count 
at this time (1634) revealed the fact that the popula- 
tion did not exceed four thousand, nine hundred and 
fourteen, but after the census was taken a Dutch ship 
brought in one hundred and forty-five persons from 
the Bermudas, and an English ship sixty from Eng- 
land. 9 The tide of new settlers then began to pour in 
in larger volume in consequence of the more orderly 
state of affairs and the rising prosperity of the Colony. 
In 1634 alone twelve hundred arrived. 10 Since 1619 
the population of Virginia had doubled in size, but this 
had come about only after fifteen years had passed. 
In the course of the following fifteen the size of the 
population trebled ; about five thousand in 1634, it 
rose to fifteen thousand in 1649, without including the 
three hundred slaves whom the planters then owned. 11 
The faster growth during this last interval was due, 
not to any great increase in the number of new settlers 
seeking homes in Virginia, but rather to the advance 
in the birth-rate among its inhabitants. There was by 
the middle of the century a large native population 
thoroughly seasoned to all the trying variations of the 
climate and inured to every side of plantation life, 

8 Sainsbury's Abstracts, Colonial Papers for 1628, p. 176, Va. 
St. Libr. 

8 British. Colonial Papers, Vol. VIIL, 1634-5, No. 55. 

30 British Colonial Papers, Vol. VIII., 163-1-5, No. 3. 

"New Description of Virginia, pp. 1-16, Force's Hist. Tracts, 
Vol. II. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 19 

however harsh and severe it might be in the struggle 
to press the frontier further and further outward. 
From an early date it had been observed that the 
fecundity of women residing in the Colony was re- 
markable, and this had not become less conspicuous as 
the conditions of existence grew more easy. Twelve 
years after the great Massacre of 1622, a catastrophe 
which had brought the Colony to the brink of ruin, 
the last trace of that appalling disaster had disap- 
peared from the face of the country, and only the 
memory of the practical lessons in prudence and fore- 
thought which it taught remained. Every succeeding 
year now saw hundreds of new dwelling houses built, 
and new family circles, each beneath its own separate 
roof, formed under the protection of a firm and orderly 
local government, and supported in comfort and con- 
tentment by profitable labor in the field. The gen- 
erous soil afforded an ample subsistence, however 
large the number of children gathered around the table 
at meal times ; the more mouths there were to feed, the 
more hands there were to work; whilst the compara- 
tive loneliness of the life was an additional spur to 
marriage and the production of offspring. 

In the course of the twenty years preceding 1649 but 
one event took place to check with great sharpness the 
growth of population. This was the Massacre of 
1644; but that calamity fell on the planters dispersed 
along the line of the frontier, whilst the great body of 
the colonists escaped all loss of life and property. The 
peace and prosperity prevailing about the middle of 
the century, not only encouraged the rapid expansion of 
the native population, but also held out stronger in- 
ducements than ever before offered to persons in the 



20 The Social Life of Virginia 

Mother Country to settle in Virginia. 12 The rate of 
growth observed in the Colony at this time continued 
to be maintained during the next fifty years. In 1675, 
after an interval of twenty-five, the population was 
estimated at fifty thousand by the three distinguished 
citizens, Morryson, Ludwell, and Smith, who had been 
commissioned to go to England to obtain a new 
charter 13 ; and the general accuracy of this statement 
seems to be confirmed by one made by Culpeper a few 
years later. That Governor, in his report on the con- 
dition of the Colony about 1681, declared that the tith- 
ables then numbered about fourteen thousand, which 
would indicate a total population at the lowest of 
forty-two thousand, and at the highest of fifty-six 
thousand. 14 About 1697, according to the authors of 
the Present State of Virginia, 1697-8, the whole body of 
tithables had grown to twenty thousand, a proof that 
the population now ranged between seventy and 
eighty thousand. 15 It was perhaps really nearer the 
latter than the former figures, as some time had gone 
by since the number of inhabitants had been estimated 
at seventy thousand by Governor Andros in a report 
made to the Board of Trade. 16 

The preceding statements show that, during the in- 
terval of sixty-six years ending in 1700, the population 
of Virginia had increased to fourteen times its size at 

12 New Description of Virginia', pp. 1-16, Force's Hist. Tracts, 
Vol. II. 

"Petition of Morryson, Ludwell and Smith, Colonial Entry 
Book, 1675-81, p. 33. 

14 British Colonial JCapers, Vol. XLVIL, No. 105. 

16 Present State 01 Virginia, 1697-8, Sect. 9. 

10 B. T. Va., 1697, Vol. VI., p. 161. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 21 

the beginning of that long period ; in other words, that 
sixty-five thousand persons had been added to it at the 
average annual rate of one thousand, which seems a 
rather moderate degree of growth when it is recalled 
that the additions by births had been further swelled 
by immigration. Either the mortality among the na- 
tives themselves was very great, or the flow of new 
settlers into the Colony was comparatively insignifi- 
cant, if we consider not the number who arrived in the 
English ships, but the number who survived the period 
of seasoning on the plantations. It is doubtful whether 
this number exceeded on the average five hundred a 
year, and it would perhaps be nearer the truth to es- 
timate it at three hundred. 17 

It is no cause for surprise, that the average number 
of new settlers from year to year should have been 
greater in the time of the company than after the revo- 
cation of its charter. During the existence of the com- 
pany there was a powerful body in England to employ 
all its energies and resources in encouraging emigra- 
tion to the Colony ; every means at the command of 
this body were used to set forth the advantages which 
Virginia had to offer to all who would remove thither 

" If the land patents of the seventeenth century preserved in 
the Register's office at Richmond, made up the entire number 
issued during that period, it would be easy to estimate from year 
to year the additions to the population from abroad, since a full 
list of head-rights is either appended to each of these patents, or 
shown by the number of acres contained in the grant. This, how- 
ever, would not throw any trustworthy light on the number of 
persons added permanently to the population, inasmuch as it is 
impossible to calculate with accuracy how many of the immi- 
grants included in these lists of headrights survived the change 
of climate, diet and labor. 



22. The Social Life of Virginia 

and make their permanent homes there ; and every 
facility of transportation which that age afforded was 
extended to every person who wished to go out to be- 
come a citizen of the new country beyond the Atlantic. 
The greater the number of such persons sent over- 
sea, the more rapidly the opening up of the forests 
would go on, and the more quickly the profits of the 
company itself, which were dependent on the growth 
of population, would be increased. When the letters- 
patent of that corporation were recalled, no similar 
organization arose in England to take its place in 
stimulating emigration to Virginia ; no powerful influ- 
ence, directed strenuously to that end by a single body 
of men on the ground, was left to do the same work. 
From 1624, when the company was abolished down to 
the end of the century, the only inducement, apart from 
political and social conditions, held out in England to 
promote emigration to Virginia was the general repu- 
tation of the Colony as a place where the fortune of 
the individual might be improved either by planting 
tobacco on one's own account, or by entering into in- 
dentures as an agricultural servant. As might have 
been expected, mere reputation, however favorable to 
the Colony, could not be as effective as the resources 
of a great company brought persistently to bear to fill 
the out-going ships with men, women, and children 
bent upon seeking new homes in Virginia. 



II. 

Influences Promoting English Emigration. 

TN a former work 1 I dwelt at some length on the influ- 
*- cnce which led that great class of the colonial pop- 
ulation known as the indentured servants, including 
the mechanics as well as the agricultural laborers, to 
leave their native England and bind themselves for a 
term of years to planters in Virginia. What were the 
influences that, from time to time, caused the emigra- 
tion to the Colony of that large body of men who, im- 
mediately on their arrival, took a position of equality 
with the foremost of the gentry there, a position to 
which they were entitled by their social connections 
in England, if not by the amount of wealth they had 
brought with them? In short, what was the previous 
social history of the founders of the families that con- 
trolled the highest social life of Virginia in the seven- 
teenth century? By the end of that century, when 
property had been accumulating during nearly one 
hundred years, and a sufficient interval had passed to 
allow at least two generations to be born and to grow 
up in the Colony, a very considerable proportion of the 
leading members of the landed gentry were natives of 
the country who had inherited their estates from 
fathers who, in their lifetime, were among its most 
prominent citizens. But from 1619, when the commu- 
nity became for the first time free, down to 1700, per- 

1 'luce's " Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth 
Century. 5 ' Vol. I., Chapter 9. 



24 The Social Life of Virginia 

haps not a period of twelve months went by that this 
class did not receive accessions by the arrival from 
England of men of equal social standing, who were in 
a position to acquire by patent or purchase an estate, 
large or small, according to the means at their com- 
mand. And these men became at once as much a part 
of this class from a social point of view as if they had 
been born in the Colony in the same walk of life, or 
had risen to that walk after residing there during a 
long course of years. With few exceptions, the most 
distinguished families in the colonial history of Vir- 
| ginia were founded in the Seventeenth century. It 
was in this century that there emigrated from England 
the Armisteads, Banisters, Bassetts, Blands, Boilings, 
Beverleys, Burwells, Byrds, Carys, Corbins, Carters, 
Claibornes, Custises, Fauntleroys, Fitzhughs, Harri- 
sons, Lees, Lightfoots, Ludwells, Masons, Pages, Pey- 
tons, Randolphs, Robinsons, Scarboroughs, Spencers, 
Thoroughgoods, Washingtons, and Wormleys — fami- 
lies that represented the nearest approach to an organ- 
ized aristocracy which North America has seen, and 
which constituted in their association with the eigh- 
teenth, if not with the seventeenth, century, the state- 
liest social body known so far in American history. 

The fundamental influence leading the founders of 
these families and families of equal social standing in 
the Colony to emigrate from England to Virginia was 
the active and enterprising spirit which has pre-emi- 
nently distinguished the English race immemorially. 
It was no longer possible in the seventeenth century 
to repeat the daring achievements of Drake and Haw- 
kins, Frobisher and Cavendish, who had gathered 
around them the boldest and most gallant men in the 



in the Seventeenth Century. 25 

kingdom. Had James possessed the lion-heart of 
Elizabeth, the bravest and stoutest in England would 
have continued to find in the hot pursuit of Spanish 
galleons on the ocean, or in the destruction of Spanish 
cities along the seaboard, an outlet for their irrepres- 
sible restlessness, untiring energy, and insatiable love 
of adventure. Under this timid and calculating mon- 
arch, the only outlet remaining was the establishment 
of colonies. Even this occupation, tame as it seemed 
in comparison, was not, in the view of the more eager 
spirits, entirely devoid of opportunities for romantic 
action. How much a mere taste for strange experience 
in a remote and unknown country entered into the 
hearts of many who went out to Virginia in 1607 is 
shown by the fact that the enterprise drew into that 
company of voyagers John Smith, a man whose whole 
previous life had been a series of episodes full of peril 
and excitement. But Smith also illustrates how thor- 
oughly practical the most adventurous Englishman 
could be when the true work of settling the new land 
began. Of all the European peoples in those times 
the English possessed in the most marked degree the 
bold and intrepid spirit which would move them to 
leave their native soil behind and cross many thou- 
sand miles of sea, and also the patient and calculating 
spirit which would enable them, when once fixed in 
their new place of settlement, to make the most of its 
advantages without any thought of returning to their 
former homes. No people were more devoted to their 
own country than they, and yet no people were quicker 
to abandon it when the prospect of adventure, novelty, 
or gain was held out before them. It was as if the 
Englishman was more responsive to the primordial 



26 The Social Life of Virginia 

impulses of Nature; as if civilization had not been able 
to repress in him that purely animal instinct which 
leads the bees to swarm forth from the original hive, 
and beasts to migrate blindly without any apparent 
motive in a search for food. 

The wandering spirit of the Angles, who swept 
boldly southward unmindful of the dangers of the sea, 
and scornful of enemies, had been transmitted to their 
English descendants of the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries. The first great emigration of the race was 
from the sombre forests of the North ; the second was 
from the beautiful hills and valleys of England itself; 
at bottom, the same impulse, hardly modified by the 
vast gap in time between the two movements, was at 
work, — an impulse which led the adventurer to rely 
blindly on his own fearless spirit to carve out a new 
fortune for himself in a new land, which allowed 
neither love of kindred nor devotion to familiar scenes, 
however thickly crowded with memories and associa- 
tions, to shake his resolution to depart, and which di- 
rected his gaze cheerfully and firmly towards the star 
of hope in the West the very moment his native land 
sank below the horizon in the East. 

It was no short and easy voyage in those times to 
pass from an English port to the Capes of Virginia ; 
weeks must go by after the Scilly Isles had vanished 
behind the rim of blue waters before the pines along 
the Virginian coast would begin to loom above the 
waves ; the hardships of a long sojourn in a contracted 
and uncomfortable ship must be endured; the dangers 
of violent storms at sea and the peril of wreck when 
land was approached must be risked ; the debilitating 
influences of a hot climate on reaching the shore must 



in the Seventeenth Century. 27 

be withstood, — not one of these discouragements 
served to lessen the tide of emigration which poured 
out of England, not only towards Virginia and Mary- 
land, but also towards the English colonies in the 
North. The history of no other nation furnishes a 
movement of population comparable in magnitude and 
duration with that which led to the settlement of the 
whole Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Georgia. Vast 
as it was, it was only the beginning of English coloni- 
zation. When the Revolution tore the American com- 
munities from the side of the Mother Country, the 
flood of English emigration westward slackened and 
practically died away, but before another hundred 
years had passed it had spread itself far into the 
Australasian seas; new English cities, crowned with 
all the triumphs of the modern arts, and teeming with 
a happy and prosperous population, had arisen under 
the Southern Cross ; from Table Mountain to far be- 
yond the Zambesi, English dominion had broadened 
out in South Africa ; England's commissioned Viceroy 
was enthroned at Calcutta, her uncommissioned at 
Cairo ; while in the West, in spite of Saratoga and 
Yorktown, she still owned half a continent and counted 
her loyal subjects by the millions. These were the 
achievements of her sons who had inherited that spirit 
of enterprise and adventure, not to be daunted by fear 
of a deadly climate or an Indian foe, which had sus- 
tained the souls of the men who, before the close of 
the seventeenth century had hewn down the forests 
in Eastern Virginia ; had brought the land under culti- 
vation : had established homes; had founded a care- 
fully ordered social and political system, and thrown 
over all the aegis of English Law. 



28 The Social Life of Virginia 

Give a people a bold, enterprising, and restless 
temper, and narrow the chances of fortune in their native 
land, then the disposition to emigrate, even when great 
obstacles are to be overcome and long distances to be 
traversed in doing so, will be irresistible. This was 
the general condition in England in the seventeenth 
cenutry. And no class in the community felt the in- 
fluence of a contracted sphere in which to improve 
their pecuniary state more than that class which 
shared the most ancient blood in the kingdom. It 
was not merely the man who trimmed the hedges, dug 
the ditches, reaped the corn, followed the plough, and 
drove the teams afield who turned to Virginia as a 
spot where he might, after completing a term of in- 
dentured service, acquire an interest in the soil and 
build a home on his own estate, however small in 
area. The sons of long descended gentlemen residing 
on their own ancestral lands, the sons of men engaged 
in the professions of law, medicine, and the ministry, 
the sons of men who relied upon a small local trade, 
or an extended general business for the support of 
their families, — all these turned towards Virginia a 
gaze as hopefully and bravely expectant of better 
fortune there as the gaze of the common labourer 
dreaming of those remote plantations as he drove his 
loaded wagon to the barn, or scattered the seed far and 
wide from his open hand. 

Then, as now, the families of the English were 
among the largest in the world ; the manor house, the 
parsonage, the doctor's and the lawyer's residence 
overflowed with children. The women married young, 
and only too often died before middle age from the 
mere fatigue of child bearing; second marriage and 



in the Seventeenth Century. 29 

double sets of children in the same home were condi- 
tions observed everywhere. What careers were these 
children to follow when they came to maturity? Where 
were they to settle in order to earn a livelihood? 
These were questions which pressed as anxiously 
against the mind and heart of the parent whose in- 
come was transmissible as they did against the mind 
and heart of the parent whose income was dependent 
upon his life. In those times the foreign empire of 
England had not spread entirely around the globe to 
furnish an enormous number of civil offices to be filled 
by the cadets of English families. The English regu- 
lar army and navy were small, and in consequence 
there was little room in these services for the host of 
young men whose parents were seeking a pursuit for 
them. What room was there for these young men in 
the communities where they were born? The man 
who owned a great landed estate was bound by the 
chain of custom and pride, even if uncontrolled in his 
own individual case by the law of primogeniture, to 
leave that estate to his eldest son. As this son would 
succeed him over the whole domain, however broad in 
acreage or rich in soil, there would be no opening any- 
where in that domain after his death for his other 
children. The benefice of the clergyman, the practice 
of the physician and lawyer died with them ; at the 
best, each could hope to establish only one son in the 
calling which he himself followed. 

It is no cause for surprise to find that under the pres- 
sure of this discouraging outlook for a large family. 
SO many sons of men of gentle birth were in that age 
apprenticed in manual trades which, in modern Eng- 
land, arc reserved for persons in the plainer walks of 



30 The Social Life of Virginia 

life. No doubt many parents must have looked upon 
emigration as offering a far better chance of good 
fortune than the pursuit of a mechanical art in an 
English hamlet, or of business in a shop in some pros- 
perous English town. Social prejudices must have 
played a strong part in those times in spite of the con- 
tracted field for employment. The younger brother 
of the heir to a landed estate was brought up in the 
same comfort and luxury as the heir himself. During 
their father's life time the home of the parents was the 
common home of all, where the footing and privileges 
of all were equal. The younger son was no more 
fitted than the elder to yield with equanimity to the 
claims of any occupation that would degrade his chil- 
dren to a level much lower than the one to which he 
himself was born. 

As soon as Virginia began to acquire the reputa- 
tion of a considerable community (and what was true 
of Virginia was also true of the other of the older 
English colonies in America), how natural that the 
English father of a large family, whether he was a 
land owner, clergyman, merchant, lawyer or physician, 
should have been disposed to weigh carefully the op- 
portunities which it offered for an advantageous set- 
tlement of at least some of his sons. And there must 
have been periods when this disposition was far 
stronger than at others. During the supremacy of 
Cromwell what chance was there for the children even 
of those royalists who had enjoyed under happier con- 
ditions a high degree of power and influence? With 
all those kinsmen capable of advancing them, had 
Charles still been reigning at Whitehall, prescribed, 
and with their own immediate families under a ban 



in the Seventeenth Century. 31 

because loyal to the monarchy, was it at all strange 
that so many young men, like the Washingtons, de- 
spairing of brighter days in their native country, and 
burning with ambition to improve their fortunes, and 
spurred on by a spirit of enterprise, should have looked 
upon emigration to Virginia as offering the only hope 
for the redress of the evils at home? One cavalier 
voiced the feelings of his whole class when he said 
that "Virginia was the only city of refuge left in his 
Majesty's dominions in those times for distressed cav- 
aliers." 2 In 1649 alone, the year when the final blow 
was given to the cause of the royalists by the fall of 
the King's head on the scaffold, seven ships, heavily 
loaded with passengers, all, with few exceptions, there 
is reason to think, in sympathy with that cause, set 
sail for the Colony where Charles II. had been boldly 
proclaimed as soon as news of his father's death 
(which was at once denounced there as an impious 
murder) had arrived. 3 But long before this, and for 
many years afterwards, that stream had poured and 
continued to pour across the Atlantic to the "City of 
Refuge" among the plantations of Virginia. 

There were special reasons why Virginia, after it 
began to grow in wealth and population, should appeal 
strongly to the interest of the English landed V gentry 
as a body. First, it was firmly loyal to the monarchy in 
spite of the harsh and injurious operation of the Navi- 
gation Acts ; in spite of sweeping grants of its territory 
to independent proprietaries like Baltimore, or to pri- 

am's Proceedings p. 34, Forced Hist. Tracts Vol. I. 

• Interregnum Entry Book, Vol. XXXVI., p. 13. Briti 

Tapers. 



32 The Social Life of Virginia 

vate beneficiaries like Arlington and Culpeper ; in spite 
of selfish denials of reasonable requests like that for 
the cessation of tobacco culture for a time ; and in 
spite of royal Governors, like Howard and Culpeper, 
bent upon their own enrichment in a few years by un- 
just impositions upon the people. 

Secondly, Virginia as a whole was devoted to the 
Church of England. It is true that persecution of 
none of the various dissenting sects was ever carried 
to the same extreme in this Colony as in the colonies 
of New England, but at no time previous to the Act of 
Toleration was Virginia a comfortable spot for such 
sects. 4 The controlling influences in her society hardly 
needed the vehement and persistent co-operation of 
Sir William Berkeley to give emphatic direction to the 
disapproval felt by that society for all forms unsanc- 
tioned by the Anglican Church. Much of the bitter 
feeling aroused by the division of Virginia's territory 
in favor of Baltimore was due to his profession of the 
Roman Catholic faith ; the foundation of Maryland sig- 
nified not only a rupture of the original grant to Vir- 
ginia, which might at any time be repeated as to the 
unoccupied soil yet left to her, but also the establish- 
ment of a Roman Catholic community at her very 
door. There is no reason to think that the violent 
course of Berkeley towards Quakers and Puritans was 
repugnant to the sentiment of a majority of the people, 
or that the Toleration Acts of Charles and James were 
regarded with entire satisfaction by any sections ex- 
cept those who thus obtained the right to worship in 



4 During the Protectorate, the Puritans enjoyed absolute ex- 
emption from interference, but neither the Quakers nor the Papists 
were even then in so happy a condition. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 33 

the manner they preferred. The Virginians as a body 
were as conservative at heart as the English them- 
selves, and conformity to the Church of England was 
but one phase of loyalty to the established order in 
the State. 

Thirdly, the whole power of Virginian society even 
in the times when universal suffrage prevailed, was 
directed by the landowners. That society was com- 
posed entirely of the landed proprietors and their de- 
pendants. There were neither towns nor cities, and 
consequently the number of persons following those 
special callings which thrive best in large and crowded 
communities was too small to be considered from a 
social point of view. The public sentiment was ex- 
clusively the sentiment of men who, like the land- 
owners of England, looked to agriculture for the in- 
come which went to the support of their famlies, and 
whose only material interests were those associated 
directly with the soil. The member of the English 
landed gentry contemplating the advantages of send- 
ing his son out to Virginia deemed it a favorable cir- 
cumstance that he would engage there in the pursuit 
which had occupied the time and thoughts of his fore- 
fathers in England for so many hundred years ; nor 
was it a drawback that tobacco, and not wheat, would 
be the staple which that son would cultivate as soon 
as he had acquired an estate, for, in the course of a very 
few generations, the English people had seen a great 
community built up in Virginia entirely through the 
profits obtained from the sale of the plant. The young 
Englishman himself, accustomed from his birth to all 
the operations of the farm, perhaps discovered in the 
expectation of producing this plant a new fillip to 



34 The Social Life of Virginia 

his interest in his own emigration. The mere fact that 
it was unknown to him by practical experience in its 
cultivation, no doubt, had a tendency to exaggerate his 
idea of the pecuniary returns to be derived from it, to 
which he would not for a moment have yielded had 
the staple been one with which he was thoroughly fa- 
miliar from childhood. 

Letters resembling the one in which Fitzhugh gave 
such a vivid description of the estate accumulated by 
him in Virginia must have been constantly received in 
England, and passed from hand to hand, with the in- 
evitable result of stimulating in the breasts of many 
persons the desire to share in a like good fortune by 
emigrating to the Colony. 5 Such testimony coming 
from well-known citizens, without any motive to over- 
state their happy condition, was not likely to have been 
questioned. A more critical attitude might have been 
assumed towards an interested pamphleteer like Wil- 
liam Bullock, but even his account of the advantages 
to be derived from settlement in Virginia, supported 
as it was by private information, must have made no 
small impression. 6 There were at least a dozen ports, 
beginning with London in the east and Bristol in the 
west, to which ships were annually returning from the 
Colony loaded with cargoes of tobacco ; though the 
sailors might speak with disfavor of the heat of the 
climate in summer, these cargoes were a tangible proof 
of the fertility of the soil and of the ample reward of 

6 Bruce's Economic Hist, of Va. in the Seventeenth Century. 
Vol. II.; p. 243. 

6 Bruce's Economic Hist, of Va. in the Seventeenth Century. 
Vol. I., p. 342, et seq. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 35 

labor. Any member of the English landed gentry who 
was debating in his own mind as to the advisability of 
sending his son out to settle there was not likely to be 
diverted from his purpose by the tale of a seaman 
touching the horrors of the "seasoning," for it was 
known that this period of bad health fell far more 
heavily on the ordinary agricultural servant, compelled 
by his contract to work in the fields under the rays of 
the sun soon after his arrival, than on the emigrant 
who had brought over means sufficient to enable him 
to employ others to till the ground for the production 
of his crops. 

But there was still another reason why the Colony 
made a strong appeal to Englishmen who belonged 
to the landed gentry. In essentials the life which the 
Virginian led on his estate was the same as the life 
which the English gentleman led on his own. The 
comparative isolation of the plantation was considered 
by the latter to be no drawback, as it made possible 
that independence of individual action which was so 
highly valued by him in his native country; breadth 
of surface only assured the more certainly ampleness 
of room for the master to move in without touching 
elbows with his neighbours, to the diminution of his 
sense of personal supremacy. The life in Virginia, 
owing to the entire absence of towns, was even more 
rural in character than the life in England. The 
Englishman, accustomed to country pursuits, knew, in 
emigrating, that he was seeking a residence in a com- 
munity where all the tastes and habits of the English 
rural gentry were in some respects only accentuated 
by the dispersion of the population. Love of home, 
as the centre of the most sacred affections, was per- 



36 The Social Life of Virginia 

haps not more fervent there than in England, but the 
bonds of kinship were much stronger because in that 
secluded existence ties of blood assumed a far higher 
degree of importance, while the pleasures of hospi- 
tality were more relished, for the presence of a guest 
was an event of greater rarety and distinction. And the 
Englishman was also aware that in no manor-house of 
Devon, Surrey, or Essex was the devotion to England 
and all things English deeper than in the plantation 
residences of Virginia ; that the subtle tie of nation- 
ality was as binding there as in the Mother Country; 
that the recognition of class distinctions and social 
divisions was quite as clear ; and that, as an English 
gentleman, he would at once take the same position in 
the society of the Colony as he had held in his native 
shire, and would hardly recognize in outward customs 
that he had made a change of habitation. 7 And this 
would also be true, not only of the amusements of in- 
door life, but also of the diversions of outdoor. All 
the immemorial games of England were pursued there 
with an equal zest, and all the manly sports with an 
equal energy. The various holidays that had been cele- 
brated in England beyond the memory of man were 
without exception also observed in Virginia ; and as 
in England so in Virginia, every occasion of a festive 
character, public or private, was used to the utmost to 
bring amusement and enjoyment into the lives of the 
people. 

These different influences appealed with almost 
equal power to merchants debating in their own minds 

7 This seems to have been the impression of Colonel Henry Nor- 
wood and the other Cavaliers who were so liberally entertained 
after their arrival in Virginia. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 37 

as to settling either themselves or their younger sons 
in Virginia. One of the earliest aspirations to rise in 
the breast of an Englishman beginning to win success 
in his trade was to own a country estate, a feeling that 
sprang, not only from the immemorial love of rural 
occupations and amusements characterizing the Eng- 
lish people as a body, but also from a desire for the 
increased social consideration which property of this 
kind has always conferred in England. It was in the 
power of the prosperous merchant to purchase land 
for himself in one of the English shires, which, 
naturally, he would prefer, but it was not always in 
his power to purchase land for all his sons, even if he 
had deemed this to be an advisable step to take. An 
opening was presented in Virginia for establishing 
some of these sons as landowners at a much smaller 
expense than he could establish them in England, and 
the wisdom of doing so seemed increased when he 
recalled that the Colony was, from every point of view, 
a mere corner of the Mother Country; that the habits 
of the higher planting class were the habits of the 
English rural gentry; and that the whole tone of the 
social life there was practically the same as that pre- 
vailing in every English county. Like the father be- 
longing to the circle of country gentlemen, he saw 
that, in addition to the independence, heartiness, and 
refinement of its social life, the Colony possessed in 
tobacco culture a means by which a son starting there 
with a fair estate might steadily improve his fortunes. 
Many English merchants were by the course of their 
business thoroughly informed as to the advantages to 
be reaped by planters who engaged in trading in that 
commodity. It was in this way chiefly, they knew. 



38 The Social Life of Virginia 

that the largest properties held by citizens of the 
Colony had been accumulated ; and the same opportu- 
nity, they felt sure, was open to a son who possessed 
the shrewdness and the capital to make the most of 
such chances as they arose from year to year. 



TIT. 
Origin of the Higher Planting Class. 

EVEN in the earliest years of its settlement, Vir- 
ginia was regarded with extraordinary interest by 
members of the most influential social classes in Eng- 
land. Of the three hundred and twenty-five incorpora- 
tors whose signatures were attached to the charter of 
1612, twenty-five were peers of the realm ; one hundred 
and eleven, knights; sixty-six, esquires; and twenty, 
"gentlemen," a designation which, in those times, had 
a meaning distinctive of a special rank. Three-fourths 
of the persons who signed this document were em- 
braced in the circle of the English gentry, while one 
hundred and twenty of the number had at one time 
been, or still were, members of Parliament, a position 
in that century, as in the present, generally filled by 
some one who was connected with the landed property 
of the kingdom. 1 In the charter of 1609 it was the 
trades of England which were chiefly represented ; the 
commercial impulse given to colonization was then the 
most conspicuous ; but three years later it was what 
was known in those times as the "gentle classes" which 
were principally interested. It followed very naturally 
that a very considerable proportion of those who took 
an active part in settling the country even in the begin- 
ning, when it stood in its primeval condition, were 

tor of 1G12, Brown's Genesis of the United States, Vol. 
II.. p. 542. 



40 The Social Life- of Virginia 

men who had a right, whether from the point of- view 
of birth, breeding, or education, to be called "gentle- 
men" ; nor were they the less so because often impe- 
cunious, for as we have seen that was pre-eminently 
the age of hope, when it was thought that fortune 
would certainly come to anyone who would seek it in 
the unknown regions lying in the East or West, — the 
age when men gambled away their entire patrimony 
in a night, and sailed away by the first ship to recoup 
their losses. 2 

The calamities that had overwhelmed the colonists 
of Roanoke Island were still not forgotten, but not for 
one moment did this fact prevent a large number of 
Englishmen of good birth, who might have remained 
in ease and safety at home, from joining the expedition 
which set sail in 1606 from Blackwall for Virginia. 
Of the one hundred persons who went out on that ad- 
venturous voyage fifty-four were recorded as belong- 
ing to the station of a "gentleman," a term that was 
always used very guardedly in that age. Among these 
fifty-four were representatives of such distinguished 
English families as Archer, Sandys, Walthrop, Throck- 
morton, Brewster, Browne, Pennington, Wingfield, 
Waller, Wotton, Gower, and Frith. 3 At least one, 
George Percy, was the son of a nobleman of the high- 
est rank in the kingdom. 

In the First Supply, which arrived in the course of 
1608, there were included thirty-three "gentlemen" in 
a total company of one hundred and twenty new set- 

2 Green's Short History of the English People, Sect. V., Chap. 7. 

3 Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 153, Richmond 
edition. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 41 

tiers, a proportion of one-fourth of the whole as com- 
pared with the one-half who participated in the first 
voyage.* Among these thirty-three were found men 
bearing such well known English names as Feather- 
stone, Abbot, Mollineux, Perkins, Bentley, Worley, 
Killingbeck, Bayley, and Harper. As they were ac- 
companied by a perfumer, they must have looked for- 
ward to the continued enjoyment on the banks of the 
James of all their usual foppish refinements. Smith 
has stated that most of the persons entered as "labour- 
ers" in the First Supply were really footmen who were 
in attendance on their masters; and that, of the entire 
company, only a few dozen had been accustomed to 
the rough manual work which the colonists were at 
once called upon to do. Though Smith spoke at first 
with impatient scorn of these gentlemen, with their 
valets and perfumers, as men who were better fitted 
"to spoyle a commonwealth than to begin or maintain 
one," he was forced to acknowledge that the test of 
practical experience showed that there was among 
them more sensible minds and more industrious hands 
than he had expected/' 

Tn the Second Supply there arrived twenty-nine 
"gentlemen" in a total company of seventy new set- 
tlers. Among the persons of gentle birth who came 
out on this voyage was Francis West, a brother of 
Lord De la Warr and a member of a family distin- 
guished in the peerage. His companions in the same 
station of life bore such well known names as Russell. 

4 Work < of Captain John Smith, Vol. II., pp. 172-3, Richmond 
edition. 

5 Works of Captain John Smith. Vol. I., p. 241. Richmond 
edition. 



42 The Social Life of Virginia 

Codrington, Philpot, Leigh, Harrison, Holt, Norton, 
Yarington, Phelps and Prat. Two alone, however, 
namely, Gabriel Beadle and John Russell, are desig- 
nated by Smith as "gallants," the term applied in that 
age to young men of good family who had circum- 
navigated all the vices of the town, but in whom, in 
spite of waste or loss of fortune, a gay and adventurous 
spirit still survived. 6 

In the Third Supply a larger number of these reck- 
less young fops found their way to the Colony. They 
had been hurried off by their friends, according to the 
same impatient chronicler, "to escape ill destinies," 
and were thus forerunners of a host of daring spend- 
thrifts of fashion who, for several hundred years, have 
by their kinsfolk been packed away from the same 
island to remote corners of the globe, there, under new 
influences, to become, not infrequently, sober and hon- 
ourable citizens. But the forests around Jamestown 
presented to these early gallants few inducements to 
lead a more useful life. Smith complained of them bit- 
terly as creating factions among the settlers, and bring- 
ing confusion upon the objects for which the Colony 
had been founded. 7 

There was, however, in the conduct of the great 
body of the men of birth who came to Virginia in these 
first years nothing whatever to lead the authorities to 
discourage the introduction of the social element 
which they represented. "I would not have it con- 
ceived," declared De la Warr in a letter to the London 

6 Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., pp. 197, 203, Richmond 
edition. 

'Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 235, Richmond 
edition. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 43 

Company, "that we would exclude altogether gentle- 
men, and such whose breeding never knew what a 
day's labor meant, for even to such this country, I 
doubt not, but will give likewise excellent satisfaction, 
especially to the better and stayed spirits ; for he 
amongst them that cannot dig, use the square, nor 
practise the axe and chisel, yet he shall find how to 
employ the force of knowledge, the exercise of coun- 
sel, and the operation and power of his best breed- 
ing." 8 

The introduction into Virginia of persons belonging 
to the social rank of gentlemen went on as steadily 
after as before Smith's departure from the Colony. In 
the reply which the Grand Assembly made to the 
pamphlet entitled the "Declaration of the State of the 
Colony in the Twelve Years of Sir Thomas Smythe's 
Government," it is expressly asserted that, among those 
who perished in Virginia during this period of its 
early settlement, were many persons sprung from 
"Ancyent Houses and born to Estates of £1,000 by the 
year, some more, some less." ° Now an estate which 
in those times would assure an annual income of 
£1,000 would in these assure an annual income of 
£5,000, an income, as roughly estimated, equal to 
twenty-five thousand dollars. 10 That men so well 
placed in the point of fortune in their native land as 
this should have gone out to Virginia shows that they 
were either moved by a spirit of mere novelty and ad- 

8 Brown's Genesis of the United state-. Vol. T., p. -ill. 
' NeilT« Ya. Co. of London, p. 408. 

,0 One thousand pound- sterling in 1611 had the purchasing 

power ol five thousand pounds a1 the present time. 



44 The Social Life of Virginia 

venture, or expected extraordinary opportunities to 
arise there by which their means, already large, would 
be increased. 

It is probable that every ship sailing for the Colony 
in the time of the company carried out a considerable 
number of persons who belonged in England to the 
social rank of gentlemen. It was not often that in the 
lists of passengers the social position of each was 
stated, but when it was, the proportion of gentlemen 
among them varied ; sometimes it was small, and 
sometimes it was quite large. Of the band of thirty- 
five persons who came over in 1619 with the intention 
of settling at Berkeley on James River, the modern 
Harrison's Landing, only three were entered as of that 
station in life in the certificate which the Governor 
was required by law to draw up to show their arrival 
in the Colony. The names of these three were Toby 
Felgate, Ferdinando Yate, and John Blanchard. But 
in a second consignment of settlers which was made at 
a later date to the same plantation, thirteen, in a total 
company of fifty, were set down as men who had en- 
joyed high social position in England. 11 The ship 
Margaret and John, in crossing the ocean in 1620, with 
eighty-five emigrants on board bound for Virginia, 
was attacked by Spaniards, and in the fight that en- 
sued eight persons among the English were killed. 
Of these eight it is incidentally mentioned that one 
was a "gentleman," whilst of the twenty who were 
simply wounded in the conflict five, or one-fourth of 
the number, were referred to as belonging to that 

"Brown's First Republic, pp. 371, 413. Toby Felgate in a 
patent which he sued out in 1630 refers to himself as " mariner." 



in the Seventeenth Century. 45 

social rank. 1 - It is not improbable that this formed 
the proportion of gentlemen in the full list of passen- 
gers. 

Nor did that proportion fall off after the charter of 
the company was recalled, if a trustworthy inference 
can be drawn from the few instances in which any 
light at all is thrown upon the social rank of the emi- 
grants on board ship. For instance, in 1636, when 
Harvey set out for Virginia on his return after the mu- 
tiny which had expelled him, he was accompanied by 
one hundred passengers, twenty of whom, or one-fifth of 
the whole number, were declared by him to be "gentle- 
men of quality." A large proportion of the remaining 
passengers were perhaps the agricultural servants 
whom these gentlemen were carrying out to the 
Colony to work the lands which they intended to ac- 
quire by patent. 13 

Investigation of early Virginian genealogy has not 
yet been searching enough to show fully and precisely 
the social origin of every member of the memorable 
Assembly which convened at Jamestown in 1619, the 
first legislative body of a representative character to 
meet on North American soil. Enough, however, is 
known to disclose the fact that, with few exceptions, 
all had been of good, and some of high, social stand- 
ing in England. Yeardlev, who as Governor was the 
presiding officer of the Council sitting as the Upper 
Chamber, seems to have been one of the few whose 
beginnings were decidedly plain, but he had filled high 
offices, and had been knighted for his valuable ser- 

12 Brown- lirst Kepublic, p. 416. 

13 British Colonial Taper-, Vol. IX., No. 27, I. 



46 The Social Life of Virginia 

vices. 14 On the other hand, Captain Francis West, a 
member of the House of Burgesses, was a son of the 
second Lord De la Warr. John Pory, the Speaker, 
was not only a graduate of Cambridge University, and 
an author of distinction, but also had been a prominent 
member of the English Parliament, a position which 
proved even more then than now that the incumbent 
enjoyed high social consideration. Thomas Pawlett, 
a Burgess, was the brother of John Pawlett, who was 
afterwards raised to the rank of baron in the peerage. 
Pawlett seems to have arrived in Virginia as recently 
as 1618, and his election to the Assembly so soon 
would indicate the power of social influence in the 
Colony even in that early period, for he had hardly had 
the time to make much impression by his personal 
ability, independently of his conspicuous family con- 
nections. 15 Rossingham, another Burgess, was a 

14 The statement reported in the following deposition seems to 
have been considered a slander: 

"Deposition of Poger Marshall taken in open court: 'This de- 
ponent saith that being at Mr. Littleton's house, Thomas Pa ikes 
came into the kitchen and calked concerning Mr. Yeardley, saying, 
" I have done the king better service than ever the sire of Yeardley 
(i.e., Justice Yeardley) did," and, further, the said Parkes told 
the people there present, saying, "Justice Yeardley's father (Sir 
George) did woric upon a taylor's stall in Burchin Lane in Lon- 
don." In a second deposition, Parkes is reported to have said: 
"Alas! hee (i.e., father of Justice Yeardley. SI:- George) was but 
a taylor that lept off a shop board in Burchin Lane.' " 

Northampton County Records, orders, Dec. 20, 1643. 

A brother of Sir George Yeardley was an apothecary. 

16 Pawlett owned the famous Westover estate on James river, 
which he devised by will to his brother, Lord Pawlett. He sat 
in the Assembly of 1633 (N. S.) as the representative from West- 
over and Fleur de Hundred; see William and Mary College Quart., 
Vol. IV., pp. 151, 152. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 47 

nephew of Governor Yeardley, whilst Lieut. Gibbes, 
who was also a Burgess, is supposed to have been a son of 
Thomas Gibbes, formerly a member of the King's Council 
for the London Company. Captain Thomas Graves was of 
sufficient consideration to be included among the sub- 
scribers of the charter of 1609, and Captain William 
Tucker among those of the charter of 1612. John Jackson, 
or Juxon, was a kinsman of the Bishop who was to win 
such lasting fame as Charles the First's spiritual attendant 
when he ascended the scaffold under the windows of 
Whitehall. Walter Shelley, another Burgess, who had 
been among the earliest members of the London Com- 
pany, is thought to have belonged to the family after- 
wards made so celebrated by the great poet of the 
same name, but one which had long enjoyed a con- 
spicuous position among the landed gentry of Eng- 
land. 10 

Besides the Wests, 17 Pawletts, and Percies, who 
were either the sons or brothers of English noblemen, 
there were, in the interval between 1610 and 1623, 
numerous persons in the Colony connected by close 
ties of blood or marriage with members of the English 
baronetage. For instance, Henry Spelman was the 
son of Sir Henry Spelman, one of the most distin- 

u See as authority for these various details the admirable arti- 
cle from the pen of the late William Wirt Henry, republished 
from the papers of the American Eistorical Association in the 
Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. GO. 

''The family of West in Virginia traces descent from John 
West, one of the three brothers connected with the early history 
of the Colony; see Abstracts of Proceedings Va*. Co, of London, 
Vol. I., p. 115, note. 



48 The Social Life of Virginia 

guished antiquarians of that day. 18 Captain Jabez 
Whitaker had married a daughter of Sir John 
Bouchier. 19 George Thorpe, the manager of the Col- 
lege lands, an accomplished scholar and devoted phi- 
lanthropist, who was destined to perish so miserably 
by the tomahawk of the Indian, was a great-nephew of 
Sir John Mason, of the English Council of State, and a 
near kinsman of the titled families of Throgmorton 
and Berkeley. 20 Thomas Willoughby, according to a 
tradition which bears some evidence of authenticity, 
was a nephew of Sir Perceval Walloton. 21 Henry 
Fleet was, on the maternal side, the grandson of Sir 
Thomas Wyatt, the celebrated rebel, and a great-great- 
grandson of the almost equally famous Thomas 
Brooke, Lord Cobham. William Strachey, who filled 
the office of Secretary of State to the Colony, was a 
direct descendant of Sir John Strachey, and belonged 
to a family which has maintained by its talents and 
wealth a conspicuous position among the landed 
gentry of England down to the present day. 22 Wil- 
liam Davison, who was also Secretary of State in Vir- 
ginia, was a son of William Davison, who held the 
same office in England, and was one of the most faith- 
ful and trusted advisers of Queen Elizabeth. 23 John 
Rolfe, celebrated as the husband of the lovely Indian 

18 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 19G. 
10 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 78. 

20 William and Mary College, Quart., Vol. IX., p. 209. 

21 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 44S. 

22 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 1GS. 

23 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 199. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 49 

heroine Pocahontas, and as the first among the English 
settlers to cultivate tobacco, was sprung from a family 
of distinguished social connections, which had long 
been seated at Heacham in Norfolk. 24 Captain Raleigh 
Croshaw was probably a close kinsman of the famous 
poet of the same name.- 5 

In a petition to the Privy Council which the London 
Company presented some time previous to the revoca- 
tion of its charter in 1624 they declared that many of 
the sub-patentees of the very extensive public land 
grants, some of whom had gone out to Virginia, were 
"men of noble and worthy families, and possessors of 
such large fortunes that they were able to expend great 
sums in settling and improving their plantations." 20 
The patents to private land grants recorded in the 
Colony in the short interval between 1622 and 1624 
were, in many instances, obtained by persons who 
could justly lay claim to the same distinguished social 
origin. Not only were a very considerable number of 
these single patentees entered in their patents as "gen- 

24 William and .Mary College Quart., Vol. X.. p. 169. Among 
those whose names are included in the list of dead at West and 
Shirley Hundred, 1G24-5, was "James Rolfe, Blaine by the Indian-." 
This, there is little reason to doubt, was John Rolfe, a strange 
fate for the son-in-law of Powhatan ; British Colonial Papers, Vol. 
III., No. 35. 

-'• Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 8G. Croshaw i< always 
spelt with the o in the records, hut the name was really I Irashaw. 
Ah-raii > of Proceedings of Va'. Co. of London, Vol. 1.. p. 143, 
Va. Hist. Soc. Pub. An instance i- that of Sir Richard Worsley, 
who, in 1622, was associated with other persons in patenting a 
\a-t tract of land in Virginia, to which they had become entitle! 
by transporting to the Colony one hundred new settlers (Va. 
Ala-. i. of Hi^t. and Biog., Vol. II., ]>. 68). The Berkeley Grant 
is another case in point. 



50 The Social Life of Virginia 

tlemen," a term applied with legal precision in a public 
document, but the searching inquiry into special geneal- 
ogies now going on has shown that many of them pos- 
sessed connections in England of a high social rank. 
Among these patentees, for instance, were Maurice 
Thompson, the father of the first Lord Habersham, 
and Giles Allington, a member of the well known 
family of Cambridgeshire formerly represented in the 
peerage by the Barons Allington. 27 

27 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., pp. 189, 191 : The title 
now belongs to a different family. In estimating the proportion 
of freemen among the persons whose names are mentioned in the 
five hundred and one land patents issued between 1G23 and July, 
1637, Mr. William G. Stanard, in his abstracts of these patents 
has declared that "of the names appearing in these 501 patents, 
336 are positively known to have come to the Colony as freemen, 
and were chiefly men and heads of families. There are 245 persons 
whose names do not occur as headrights, and yet of whom it is not 
positively shown that tney were freemen, though probably the by 
far greater number of them were. There were 2,094 whose trans- 
portation charges were paid by others. These included negroes, 
wives, children, triends, etc. It would probably be fair to say that 
of the names represented in the patents cited, there were 675 
freemen, women, and children who came to Virginia, and about 
2,000 servants and slaves." See Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., 
Vol. I., p. 441. 



IV. 
Origin of the Higher Planting Class. — Continued. 

THE different records of the long period from 1624, 
when the company was abolished, until the close 
of the seventeenth century, show the continued emi- 
gration to Virginia of numerous persons who were 
connected by ties of blood or marriage with persons 
of high position in England. The Colony had re- 
verted to the Crown only a few years when Sir John 
Zouch, a member of one of the most ancient families 
of Derbyshire, not only acquired a large tract of land 
on the James, but also took up his residence there, al- 
though it seems to have been only for a time. 1 Walter 
Aston, who lies buried at Westover, was a cousin of 
Lord Aston* in the English peerage, 2 while Thomas 
Booth, the first of a name destined to become very well 
known in the social history of the Colony, was a cousin 
of the Earl of Warrington. 3 William Claiborne, who 
at different times filled the positions of Secretary of 
State, Commissioner of Parliament, and Deputy-Gov- 
ernor, and resisted so stoutly the partisans of Balti- 
more when they sought to dispossess him of Kent 
Island, was descended from the Cleburnes of Westmore- 
land, in England. His brother married a daughter of 
Sir Richard Lowther, of Lowther, situated in that 
county, a member of a family represented in the Eng- 
lish peerage to-day by the Earls of Lonsdale, and long 

'William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 222. 

»Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. V.. p. 313. 

3 William and Mary 'College Quart., Vol. II., p. 234. 



52 The Social Life of Virginia 

one of the most powerful in the North. 4 Adam 
, Thoroughgood, the owner of a large estate, and for 
many years a very prominent figure in the affairs of 
[the Colony, was a brother of Sir John Thoroughgood, 
of Kensington, who was attached to the Court. 5 
Samuel Mathews, who, like Thoroughgood, made a 
large fortune by planting and trading, and, during the 
Puritan Supremacy, became Governor of Virginia, 
had married the daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, the 
son-in-law of Sir Sebastian Harvey, one of the most 
distinguished Lord Mayors of London in those times. 6 
A leading member of the Council of Governor Har- 
vey was Henry Finch, who was a brother of the Lord 
Keeper of that name 7 ; and Captain John West, re- 
ferred to by Harvey as "the Uncle of the Late Lord 
Lawar," was also a member of the same body. 8 Sir 
John Harvey himself had performed such valuable 
services on the sea that he had been rewarded by his 
elevation to knighthood. 9 Henry Woodhouse, ances- 
tor of the Woodhouse family of Virginia, who arrived 
in the Colony about 1637, was descended from Sir 
William Woodhouse, of Waxham, Norfolk. Sir Wil- 

4 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 313. 
s Thoroughgood's house was, until very recently, still standing 
on Lynnhaven Bay, as solid and in as good repair apparently as 
when it was first built. It was from some points of view the most 
interesting, as it was, perhaps, the oldest colonial residence in 
Virginia at the time of its demolition. 

e Neill's Va. Carolorum, p. Ill; see, also, Va. Maga. of Hist, 
and Biog., Vol. I., p. 91, Vol. XII., p. 88. 

7 British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., p. 95, II. 

s British Colonial Papers, Vol. V., No. 95, II. 

"Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 87. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 53 

Ham had married the widow of Sir Henry Parker, who 
was the daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe ; Wood- 
house's son had married a daughter of Sir Nicholas 
Bacon (the famous Lord Keeper in the reign of Eliza- 
beth), and the sister of the celebrated chancellor and 
philosopher, Francis Bacon. Captain Henry Wood- 
house, the fruit of this marriage, and the father of the 
emigrant, was recommended for the chief command 
at Tilbury, became Governor of Bermuda in 1623, and 
aspired to the same office in Virginia. 10 Major Rich- 
ard Morryson, who was for some years in charge of 
the fort situated at Point Comfort, was a son of Sir 
Richard Morryson by his wife, a daughter of Sir Henry 
Harrington. His brother, Colonel Francis Morryson, 
long one of the most prominent and useful citizens of 
the Colony, left England after the defeat of the royal 
cause, of which the Morrysons had been active and 
zealous supporters. A sister of these two brothers 
had married the accomplished Lord Falkland, who 
was so celebrated in the history of the Civil Wars. 11 
A son of Major Richard Morryson settled permanently 
in Virginia, and when he died his estate passed to his 
nephew, Henry Morryson, who at the time occupied 
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in Lord Cutts's regi- 
ment of footguards. 12 

'•British Colonial Papers, Vol. VIII., No. 75; Va. Maga. of 
Hist, and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 400-1; see, also, Lower Norfolk 
County Antiquary for numerous interesting fads about this an- 
eienl family, which is represented in Princess Anne county to-day. 

11 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 384. 

12 Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1GS4-9D, p. 455, Va. St. 
Libr. Copy. The properties known as Fort Hill and Puck Roe were 
sold by Henry Morryson to Robert Beverley. 



54 The Social Life of Virginia 

Among the principal families in Virginia previous 
to 1650 were the Calthorpes. Christopher Calthorpe, 
who was the first of that connection to settle in the 
Colony was the grandson of Sir James, and the uncle 
of Sir Christopher Calthorpe, of Stirston, in England. 
A cousin, Reynolds Calthorpe, had married the only 
daughter of Viscount Longueville. 13 Through his 
mother, who was a daughter of John Bacon, of Herset, 
in Norfolk, Christopher Calthorpe, of Virginia, was 
related to the Bacon family, one of the most powerful 
and distinguished in the Mother Country in that age, 
whether considered from a political or from a social 
point of view. George Reade, the earliest of that name 
to emigrate to the Colony, was a grandson of Sir 
Thomas Windebanke, of Harnes Hill, in Berkshire. 
This Sir Thomas had married a daughter of Sir Ed- 
ward Dymoke, the hereditary champion of England, 
an honor which his descendants continued to enjoy 
until the last century. 14 Reade is invested with some 
personal interest as an ancestor of Washington. His 
brother was for some years the private secretary of his 
kinsman, Sir Francis Windebanke, who, as Secretary- 
of-State under Charles I., made himself, by his sub- 
serviency to that ill-advised monarch, so hateful to the 
popular party that, when the Long Parliament met, 
fiercely bent upon punishing him and his like, he was 
compelled, in order to escape arrest, to fly across the 
Channel to the Continent. 

13 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 107, et seq. 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 171; Va. Maga. 
of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VIII., p. 300; see, also, Vol. VI., p. 408. 
There are interesting references to Reade in a' letter of Secretary 
Kemp, which will be found in British Colonial Papers, Vol. IX., 
1636-8, No. 97. ^ 1 ' 



in the Seventeenth Century. 55 

Richard Kemp, who filled the office of Secretary to 
the Colony about 1637, is believed on good evidence 
brought out by recent investigation to have been a 
brother of Sir Robert, of Gissing, who resided in Suf- 
folk county, England. 15 Colonel William Barnard, 
one of the foremost citizens of Nansimond in 1640, 
was a brother of Sir Robert Bernard, of Brompton 
Hall, in Huntingdonshire. 16 Richard Bennett, a 
planter of large fortune, and at one time during the 
Puritan Supremacy Governor of the Colony, a man 
who occupied during a long life a conspicuously use- 
ful and honorable position in the community, was a 
member of the family upon which Lord Arlington had 
conferred so much social distinction and political 
power in England. 17 In 1635, in a letter describing the 
mutiny which ended in the expulsion of Governor 
Harvey, Secretary Kemp refers incidentally to Robert 
Lytcott as the "son of Sir John Lytcott, now bound 
out for England." 18 Among the wealthiest and most 
influential citizens of Accomac was Colonel Nathaniel 
Littleton, whom recent investigation shows to have 
been a brother of Sir Edward Littleton, Lord Chief 
Justice of England, and a son of Sir Edward, of 
Henley, in Shropshire. He was thus sprung directly 
from Sir Thomas Littleton, one of the earliest as well 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X., p. 171. 

14 Va. Maga'. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VI., p. 408. 

17 Bennett's kinship with Arlington (whose family name was 
Bennett) is referred to in a letter to Arlington from Thomas 
Ludwell, Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., p. 54. 

"British Colonial Papers. Vol. VIII., No. 61. 



56 The Social Life of Virginia 

as one of the most famous writers on law in the Eng- 
lish language. 19 

Colonel Richard Lee emigrated to Virginia about 
i64i-'2, and there founded a family which has pro- 
duced a larger number of celebrated men, whether in 
statesmanship or war, than any other family which 
England has furnished to America. Whether he was 
descended from the Lees of Coton or of Ditchley, he 
was sprung from a line of progenitors of whom it has 
been correctly said that they "were knights and gentle- 
men of high position before the ancestors of half the 
present peerage of England had emerged from ob- 
scurity." 20 There seems to have been no political 
motive in the emigration of Richard Lee, although 
about the year he went out to Virginia the Long Par- 
liament was sternly calling to book all who had shown 
too much zeal in carrying out the intemperate and mis- 
guided policy of the King. It is possible that Lee fore- 
saw the violent times that were approaching and de- 
sired to withdraw to a more peaceable spot beyond the 
sea. But it was not the habit of members of his family, 
whether they came before or have come after him, to 

19 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 230; Vol. IX., 
p. 62; New England Hist, and Gen. Register, Vol. XLL, pp. 364-9. 
See, also, Evelyn's Diary, March 24, 1688, for interesting refer- 
ences to the beautiful residences of one branch of this family in 
England. 

S0 Lee of Virginia, p. 42. There is a letter still extant from 
Lancelot Lee to Tnomas Lee, which would seem to show that the 
emigrant was beyond doubt descended from John Lee, of Coton. 
See opinion of William G. Stanard, Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., 
Vol. VI., p. 256, an opinion confirmed by the more recent investi- 
gations of the same careful authority. The exact connection, 
however, has not yet been fully traced. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 57 

shrink from the shock of battle or the storms of public 
life, and it is more probable that, without any thought 
as to the rising commotion in England, which was 
finally to involve persons of his social rank in such a 
whirlwind, he was induced to go to Virginia by the 
assured prospect of great improvement in his pecuni- 
ary fortunes. That a man of his distinguished social 
antecedents and influential connections should have 
decided that the Colony offered greater advantages to 
persons of his class than England itself is one of the 
most remarkable proofs of the high consideration in 
which Virginia as a place of residence, and tobacco 
culture as a business, were held by Englishmen, who, 
in their native country, were surrounded by so much 
to make their lives agreeable and their occupations 
profitable. The portrait of Richard Lee, which is still 
in existence, presents as noble a type of the English 
cavalier as Vandyke or Lely ever immortalized on can- 
vas. The dark hair, the swarthy complexion, the high 
forehead, the firm and regular features, the calm and 
proud expression, — all unite to form a countenance not 
surpassed in serene beauty by Rupert's, or in massive 
strength by Montrose's. 

During the seventeenth century the Wormeleys 
were more prominent in the social and political life of 
the Colony even than the Lees. The first of this con- 
spicuous family to settle in Virginia was Christopher 
Wormeley, who had filled the office of Governor of 
Tortuga in the interval between 1632 and 1635. He 
was accompanied by his brother Ralph. The two were 
sons of Christopher Wormeley, of Adwick-le-Street, in 
Yorkshire, and through him w^ere directly descended 
from Sir John de Wormele, of Hadfield, situated in 



58 The Social Life of Virginia 

the same county. 21 Ralph inherited the large estate of 
his brother, and at Rosegill, overlooking one of the 
noblest reaches of the broad Rappahannock, estab- 
lished what was perhaps the stateliest home in Vir- 
ginia during the seventeenth century, a home adorned 
with all that the literature of the Mother Country and 
all that the mechanical arts of the Colony of that day 
could furnish, and celebrated far and wide for its hos- 
pitality and good cheer. 22 Robert Throckmorton, the 
first of the Throckmorton family to arrive in Virginia, 
was the grandson of Gabriel Throckmorton, lord of 
the Manor of Ellington, in Huntingdonshire, who 
traced his pedigree to Sir Robert Throckmorton, of 
Coughton, Warwick. 23 There was recorded in Acco- 
mac, in 1641, a deed from the widow of Sir Thomas 
Dale, in which she provided that one moiety of her 
property situated in Virginia should be divided among 
the children of Sir William Throckmorton. This was 
the dividend which had been granted by the London 
Company to Dale as some return for his eminent ser- 
vices in the office of Governor. 24 In 1650 Edward 

21 Lee of Virginia, p. 144; Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. 
IV., p. 173. 

22 See later reference to the library at Rosegill. A description 
of the house and its contents will be found in Bruce's Economic 
History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II., p. 156. 
It was at Rosegill that Colonel Henry Norwood, who had crossed 
from the Eastern to the Western Shore, found a band of newly 
arrived Cavaliers in the full enjoyment of Colonel Wormeley's 
hospitality. Howard, while Governor, spent much of his time here. 

23 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 84, 88. 

"Accomac County Records, Vol. 1640-45, p. 62, Va. St. Libr. 
Copy. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 59 

Digges emigrated to the Colony, where he became dis- 
tinguished, not only for the agricultural improvements 
he sought to introduce, but also for his prominence in 
political affairs. When he died he left a large estate 
to his widow, which included a variety of household 
articles showing a considerable degree of luxury and 
elegance in the appointments of his home. Digges 
was a son of Sir Dudley Digges, Master of the Rolls 
in England, one of the foremost offices in the adminis- 
tration of English justice. Sir Dudley was also at one 
time Ambassador to Russia, and had taken a conspicu- 
ous part in the management of the London Company. 
The mother of Edward Digges was a daughter of Sir 
Thomas Kemp, of Chilham, Kent. 25 

Nathaniel Bacon, the elder, emigrated to Virginia 
about the time the Puritan Supremacy in England was 
at its height; and he was not the only member of his 
family connection to leave his native land in conse- 
quence of that distasteful fact. We find him, after his 
arrival in the Colony, surrounded by numerous cava- 
lier kinsmen. Through his mother, Martha Wood- 
ward, he was nearly related to Thomas Woodward, 
late assay-master of the Royal Mint, who had recently 
settled in Virginia. Through his first wife, Mrs. Ann 
Smith, he is supposed to have been a brother-in-law 
of Captain William Bassett, v a former officer in the 
royal army, who also had decided to try his fortune in 
the Colony; while, through his second, he had become 
closely related to Sir Philip Honeywood, another cava- 
lier officer who had found Virginia a more agreeable 

"Leo of Virginia, p. 311; for Digges' [nventory Bee Bruee'a 
imtc History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 
II.. p. 182. 



6o The Social Life of Virginia 

place of residence than the Mother Country under the 
rule of Cromwell. An aunt, the widow of Sir Thomas 
Lyddall, had married Colonel George Lyddall, who, 
under the influence of the same feeling, had left Eng- 
land, and made his home in New Kent county, where 
we find him at a later day especially active in repelling 
Indian invasions. Lyddall was not the only member 
of his immediate family who had sought an asylum in 
Virginia, for, in 1666, Sir Robert Peake, a wealthy citi- 
zen of London, devised a considerable estate to John 
Lyddall, who at this time resided in the Colony. 

Bacon himself was a grandson of Sir James Bacon, 
and was thus a great-great nephew of the celebrated 
Chancellor. As I have already pointed out, the Wood- 
house family, which emigrated to the Colony at an 
earlier date, belonged to the same distinguished con- 
nection. Bacon, like Richard Lee, was an Englishman 
of the highest order both social and intellectual. He 
had received as thorough an education as that age af- 
forded ; was a man of commanding personality, as 
shown by the great prominence enjoyed by him 
throughout a long life, and of unusual talents for busi- 
ness, as proven by the large fortune which he accumu- 
lated. He possessed moral characteristics, associated 
with great mental vigor, which would have carried 
him very far in the public life of England had he re- 
mained there until the Restoration. He appears to 
have been singularly shrewd, wise, politic, and self- 
possessed. In the great commotion raised by his 
cousin, the younger Bacon, he never for a moment 
seems to have allowed family feeling to sway him, but 
throughout pursued a course which not only main- 
tained the confidence Berkeley placed in him, but also 



in the Seventeenth Century. 6i 

relieved his name of the shadow of suspicion which 
might well have been attached to it among those in 
authority.- 1 '' 

Sir Henry Chichely, who arrived in Virginia only a 
few years before Bacon, had served in the royal army, 
and was such a conspicuous adherent of the royal cause 
that the Puritan Council of State, in granting him a 
license to emigrate, required him to furnish security 
that he would do nothing prejudicial to the existing 
government. Chichely was the son of Sir Henry, and 
brother of Sir Thomas Chichely, of Wimpole, Cam- 
bridgeshire. Sir Thomas was a member of the Privy 
Council, Master of the Ordnance, and a man who pos- 
sessed great influence after the Restoration. Sir 
Henry Chichely himself had been an alderman of Lon- 
don. 27 Among the other titled Cavaliers who emi- 
grated to the Colony about the same time as Chichely 
were Sir Thomas Lunsford, Sir Dudley Wyatt, and 
Sir Gray Skipwith. Thomas Welsford, who also re- 
moved thither, was the second son of Sir Thomas 
Welsford, who had lost both life and estate in sup- 
porting the side of the King. 28 

The first members of the Washington family to make 

20 For Lyddall and Bacon, see Waters's Gleanings, p. 11; Wil- 
liam and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 223. 

" [nterregnum Entry Book, Vol. XCIL, p. 177; Vol. CXXXIL, 
p. 8; British Colonial Papers, Vol. XXX.. No. 70; Vol. XLVL. No. 
'.17: \'a. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., p. 39; Vol. VIII, p. 
181; William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. VI., p. 152. These differ- 
ent authorities contain many interesting facts about the Chiehelys. 
Sir Henry Chichely married Agatha, the widow of Ralph Worme- 
ley. 

M William and Mary College Quart.. Vol. VI.. p. 89; Ingram's 
Proceedings, p. 34, Porce'a Historical Tracts, Vol. I. 



62 The Social Life of Virginia 

their home in Virginia were the two sons of the Rev. 
Lawrence Washington, who was the brother of two 
knights, and connected by ties of close friendship with 
the Spencers of Althorp. The aunt of the two emi- 
grants, the wife of Sir William Washington, was a 
half sister of one of the most famous and brilliant 
noblemen of that day, George Villiers, Duke of Buck- 
ingham. Rev. Lawrence Washington had been ejected 
from his pulpit in 1642 as a "malignant loyalist," and 
his fidelity had exposed him to many hardships and 
privations. His sons shared his sympathies, and fol- 
lowing the example set by so many of even higher 
social rank, removed to Virginia in the hope of there 
restoring the fortunes of their family. 29 

One of the most promient citizens of the Colony for 
many years was George Ludlow, a cousin of General 
Edmund Ludlow, an officer of great distinction on the 
Puritan side in the Civil Wars. 30 A brother of Gen- 
eral Ludlow was the ancestor of the earls of that name, 
a title which became extinct as recently as 1842. 31 

Henry Isham, whose daughter married the first of 
the Randolphs to emigrate to Virginia, belonged to a 
family which had been long seated in Northampton- 
shire, and which has retained its high social position 
down to the present day, when it is represented in the 
English baronetage. He was a nephew of Sir Edward 

29 Waters's Gleanings, p. 372 ; Mr. Waters suggests that the 
two emigrants mighc have been influenced in some measure to go 
to Virginia by their connection by blood with the Sandys and 
Vernon families, at one time so prominently represented there, 
or so deeply interested in its affairs. 

30 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 190. 

31 Revived in recent years in favor of another family. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 63 

Brett, who had been knighted by Charles I. for bril- 
liant services as an officer, and who by his will seems 
to have devised a considerable estate to Isham's two 
daughters. Isham resided in Virginia for a time, but 
appears to have returned to England and died there. 32 
Thomas and Philip Ludwell, who became so distin- 
guished in the social and official life of Virginia, were, 
through their mother, great nephews of Lord Cotting- 
ton, one of the most conspicuous figures in England 
during the reign of the second Charles. 33 The first two 
members of the Bland family to make their home in 
the Colony were remote kinsmen of Sir Thomas Bland, 
of Kippax Park, situated near the City of Leeds, who, 
though knighted as late as 1642, was sprung from an- 
cestry which had occupied the foremost place in that 
part of England. A first cousin of the two emigrants 
had married a titled member of the Herbert family. 34 
George Brent, one of the largest landowners resid- 
ing in the Northern Neck, was a grandson of Sir John 
Peyton, of Doddington, while his wife was a niece of 
Sir William Layton, of Horsmandene, in Worcester- 
shire. 35 John Clarke, who resided at Middle Planta- 
tion, was a son of Sir John Clarke, of Wrotham, in 
Kent, and on the maternal side a grandson of Sir Wil- 
liam Stead. Sir John was a brother of Sir William 

"Waters's Gleanings, pp. 447-8. 

33 Lee of Virginia, p. 127; William and Mary College Quart.. 
Vol. I., p. 110. 

M Lee of Virginia, p. 138. See Waters's Gleanings for will of 
the Herbert who intermarried with the Blands. 

85 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 124: Colonel St. 

Codd, of Northumberland county, was a jrrandson of Sir 

Warham St. Leger, of Ulcombe, Kent; see same Vol. XI., p. 374. 



64 The Social Life of Virginia 

Clarke, of the same place, and to the son of the latter, 
who inherited his father's title, the property of John 
Clarke in Virginia descended. 36 The Scarborough 
family, long the most powerful on the Eastern Shore, 
furnished even after its arrival in Virginia at least one 
member to the titled class of England. Of the two 
sons of Edmund Scarborough, the emigrant, one, 
named Charles, settled in the Mother Country, where 
he became a scholar of great distinction, was elected 
a member of Parliament, and was appointed physician 
in turn to Charles II., James II. and William III. 
Knighted for his services, he rose to these high posi- 
tions, not only by the force of extraordinary talents, 
but also through the influence of his family connection 
in England. 37 

Miles Cary, the first of that name to remove to Vir- 
ginia, was related to the Cary family represented in 
the English peerage at that time by Robert Cary, Lord 
Hunsdon. 38 Edmund Jennings, who arrived in the 
Colony when he was very young, and in later life be- 
came one of its Attorney-Generals, was a son of Sir 

30 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. XII., p. 37; York 
County Kecords, Vol. 1671-1694, p. 22, Va. St. Lbr: The incidental 
way in which these interesting items of family history come out 
in a single brief entry in tne York County Eecords show how 
slender are the materials which record the family connection with 
. i England of so many of the higher gentry of Virginia in the 
Seventeenth century. It also suggests how much valuable genea- 
logical information has perished in the destruction of so many of 
the county records for this century. 

37 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. IV, p. 316. 

38 This fact is shewn by the acknowledgment of Lord Hunsdon 
himself; see Keith's Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, p. 39. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 65 

Edmund Jennings, of Ripon, Yorkshire, and through 
his mother, a grandson of Sir Edward Barkham, who 
had filled the office of Lord Mayor of London. Peter 
Jennings, a kinsman of Edmund, and like him at one 
time Attorney-General of Virginia, married a daugh- 
ter of Sir Thomas Lunsford, the distinguished cava- 
lier who had left England when the royal cause seemed 
hopeless. 30 George Luke, who, after his settlement in 
Virginia, became the husband of the widowed sister 
of William Fitzhugh, was a grandson of Sir Samuel 
Luke, of Woodend, in Bedfordshire, made famous in 
English literature by the pen of Butler as the hero of 
the great satire Hitdibras. i0 Nicholas Spencer, who oc- 
cupied the important post of Secretary of the Colony 
in the interval between 1679 and 1689, was, on the ma- 
ternal side, the grandson of Sir Edward Gastwick, of 
Wellington, and was also related to the family in pos- 
session of the barony of Culpeper. His mother was 
Lady Mary Armiger. 41 A niece of Lord Culpeper had 
married Samuel Stephens, of Balthorpe, in Warwick 
county, in Virginia. 42 Joseph Woorey, of Isle of Wight 
county, was a nephew of Sir John Yeamans, of Bristol, 
a town which had sent many other emigrants of distin- 
guished social connections to that part of Virginia. 
Woorey was also the great nephew of the brave and 

30 Leo of Virginia, p. 300; Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. 
IV., p. 306, Vol. VI., p. 399; William and Mary College Quart., 
Vol. EEL, p. 154. 

10 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., p. 167. 

41 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X.. p. 173; see, also, 
will of William Spencer, brother of Nicholas, which will be found 
in Waters'a Gleanings. 

"Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 83. 



66 The Social Life of Virginia ' 

devoted loyalist who lost his life as the penalty for 
seeking to deliver up the city to Prince Rupert, an 
attempt which was thwarted by the Parliamentarians. 
Sir John Yeamans became celebrated in the colonial 
history of the Carolinas by founding the Clarendon 
settlement on Cape Fear River. 43 Among those who 
perished in the fight which took place in Lynnhaven 
Bay near the end of the century between the guard- 
ship Shoreham and a pirate vessel was Peter Heyman, 
a grandson of Sir Peter Heyman, of Kent, England, 
who had been appointed to the collectorship of Lower 
James River. Heyman had gone on board of the 
Shoreham to witness the battle. 44 

One of the most prominent families of Lower Nor- 
folk county during the latter part of the seventeenth 
century was the Gutterick or Goodrich. In 1703 the 
affairs of Thomas Goodrich, probably of this family, 
then a minor and temporarily residing in England, 
were placed in the hands of his maternal uncle, Sir A. 
Danby, who had married a daughter of Abraham 
Moone, at one time a merchant of London, but after- 
wards, there is reason to think, identified for many 
years with Lancaster county, in Virginia. 45 Rowland 
Place, a member of the Council and a planter of large 
estate, had married the daughter of Sir John Brookes, 
of Norton, in Yorkshire. Place himself was the son 
of Francis Place, a painter of distinction residing in 
the city of York. 46 Lancelot Bathurst, who was set- 

43 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VI., p. 131; Vol. VII., 
p. 212. 

44 Campbell's Hist, of Virginia, p. 361. 

45 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. XI., p. 74. 
40 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VII., p. 231. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 6y 

tied in Essex county, was a son of Sir Edward 
Bathurst, of Gloucestershire and member of a family 
which continues to enjoy a position of social and po- 
litical distinction in England. 47 The first of the Pey- 
ton family to emigrate was sprung from the Peytons 
of Iselham, who traced back to the eleventh century. 
He was also a descendant of Sir Thomas Osborne, the 
founder of the family now in the enjoyment of the 
dukedom of Leeds. 48 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. XII., p. 61. 
48 See Peyton Family, Hayden's Virginia Genealogies. 



V. 

Origin of the Higher Planting Class. — Continued. 

A CONSIDERABLE proportion of the prominent 
families of Virginia in the sevententh century 
were sprung directly from the squirearchy of the 
Mother Country. It was the leading persons among 
this squireearchy who held the most conspicuous seats 
in the English parish churches, who filled the offices 
of vestryman and magistrate, who owned the bulk of 
the lands, who lived in manor houses which their fore- 
fathers had occupied, and who, like their forefathers, 
followed the hounds in season, and at times partook 
rather freely of the bottle. And it was their ancestors 
who lay in the chancels of the ancient rural churches, 
or under the defaced tombstones in the adjacent 
churchyards ; whose memorial tablets gleamed on the 
interior walls of the churches themselves, and whose 
monuments rose in the shadow of the neighbouring 
yews planted far beyond the recollection of living men. 
From the massive gray church towers there could be 
seen in every direction in the surrounding country the 
homes, in most cases dating from the remote past, 
from which the younger sons of this local squirearchy 
had gone out to make their fortunes, some to the near- 
est town, some to the great mart of London to enter 
trade, and some over sea to plant tobacco in Virginia. 1 

1 Sometimes the father would emigrate to Virginia and the son 
remain in England. A document recorded in Accomac county and 
signed by Earl of Derby, Duke of Richmond, etc., members of the 



in the Seventeenth Century. 69 

The emigration to that Colony had been especially 
large from the rural parishes of the southern and mid- 
dle shires, so remarkable for their agricultural abun- 
dance and so productive of famous names in English 
history. From the great upland slopes that looked 
down upon the English Channel towards the south, 
and upon the Bristol Channel towards the west, the 
sons of the country gentlemen could see the white 
wings of the fleets of merchantmen bound out to Vir- 
ginia, and gleaming for hours, even days, upon the 
blue waters before they melted finally from view. 
Doubtless, that annual spectacle was not without its 
effect upon the minds of many a susceptible youth, 
eager, in spite of the great natural beauty and wealth 
around him, and in spite of his ancient home haunted 
by a thousand memories and associations, to push out 
into some region never before visited by him, there to 
win fortune more easily than it could be done in his 
native land. 

Among the prominent families of the Colony which 
traced their origin to the squirearchy of Devonshire, 
the most beautiful of these southern shires, was the 

great Council of State, refers to " William Rydeing, late of 
Westerby in the county of Lancaster, gentleman, now of Accomae." 
His son, Hugh, lived at Westerby, and, in 1G83, inherited his 
lather's estate. — Accomae County Records, Vol. 1676-90, p. 371. 
Dr. Bennett W. Grreen, in his remarkable work, "Word Book of 
\ irginia Folk Speech," declares that the slurring of the "r" - 
that the ancestors oi' the Virginians "came chiefly from Southern 
England." Again he says (p. !J) : " There seems to be a distinctly 
southern, southwestern, and rust midland character in ili<' speech 
of the Virginians, little or none of the East-Anglian or Norfolk.'' 
See, also, William and Mary College Quart.. Vol. IV.. p 
Vol. VIII., p. "211. 



yo The Social Life of Virginia 

Yeo. A Yeo had been a member of Parliament from 
Totness as early as 1557. One of the gentlemen who 
subscribed for the defense of the kingdom when the 
invasion by the Armada was threatened was Leonard 
Yeo, a leading citizen of the county at that date. 2 The 
first of the family to emigrate to Virginia, known also 
as Leonard, settled in Elizabeth City, but at a later 
period in the century the name was found in Accomac, 
for which county Hugh Yeo was at one time a mem- 
ber of the House of Burgesses. The family, long after 
its arrival in Virginia, continued to own property in 
England. 3 The Broadhurst family was sprung from 
Walter Broadhurst, who established his home in the 
Colony in 1650. He was the son of William Broad- 
hurst, who resided at Lilleshall, in Shropshire, and 
whose social position was such that, in all formal legal 
papers, his name was always accompanied by the term 
"gentleman." 4 In 1678 he is found conveying property 
to the son who had settled in Virginia. 5 The first of 
the Peachy family to emigrate was the son of Robert 
■ Peachy, of Milden Hall, Suffolkshire. 6 The wife of 
j Daniel Parke, the elder, belonged to the family made 
celebrated by the accomplished John Evelyn, of Wot- 
ton, a family, however, that had been long prominent 
among the country gentry of England. She was the 

2 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 194; William and 
Mary College Quart., Vol. IX., p. 125. 

3 This fact appears in various depositions found in the Accomac 
Records. The Lear family, also very prominent, was from Devon- 
shire. 

4 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. IX., p. 333. 
B Westmoreland County Records for 1678. 
"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 111. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 71 

daughter of George Evelyn, who was residing in Vir- 
ginia as early as 1649, an d where he still has de- 
scendants; thus, through him, she was the niece of 
John Evelyn, and the grand-daughter of Robert, of 
Long Ditton, in Surrey. Another member of this 
family connection, who also bore the name of Robert, 
was, in 1637, the Surveyor-General of the Colony. It 
is possible that these close personal ties made John 
Evelyn the more willing to accept an appointment to 
the Board of Trade and Plantations, of which he has 
left an interesting account in his famous diary. 7 The 
Corbins were sprung from Nicholas Corbin, who, in 
the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII., owned 
Hall's End and other landed property in Warwick- 
shire. The first of them to come out to Virginia was 
the grandson of Gawen Grosvenor, a distinguished 
name in that century as well as in this. 8 

John Page, the first of the Pages to make his home 
in the Colony, where he arrived in 1650, at the age of 
twenty-three, was the son of Francis Page, of Bedfont 
parish, in Middlesex. He is supposed on reliable evi- 
dence to have belonged to a branch of the Page family 
of Harrow-on-the-Hill, which had, during many gen- 
erations, enjoyed a high position among the rural gen- 
try of England. The Pages of Bedfont had been seated 
there from a date going back beyond the reign of 
Edward VI., during which period one member of the 
family, Rowland, had possessed manorial rights there. 

: William and Mary College Quart., Vol. X.. p. 172; Vi 
of Hist, and Biog., Vol. IX., p. 173. Robert Evelyn, the Surveyor- 
General, was entered at the Middle Temple in 1G20; see Va. Maga. 
of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 29G. 

8 Lee of Virginia, p. 83. 



72 The Social Life of Virginia 

The father of the emigrant was of sufficient consider- 
ation in the parish to have his tomb placed in the chan- 
cel of the parish church, an honour only paid to the 
remains of persons of high social standing. 9 The 
Beverley family, which was represented in Virginia in 
the seventeenth century by several members of great 
political prominence, had been associated with the 
town of Beverley, in Yorkshire, as far back in the past 
as the reign of King John. Robert Beverley, the elder, 
was perhaps the wealthiest citizen residing in the 
Colony, while his son of the same name was the earli- 
est native of Virginia to write a book possessing extra- 
ordinary merits. 10 

The first of the Harrisons to emigrate settled on the 
James River not many years after the Colony was 
founded, and the family acquired importance before 
the close of the century. Investigation has been un- 
able to throw much definite light on the origin of this 
family, which has contributed so many distinguished 
men to the history of our country, but as the emigrant 
was soon after his arrival appointed clerk of the Coun- 
cil, a position only held in those times by men of in- 
fluence and social prominence, it has been inferred that 
his social connections in England were such as entitled 
him to more than usual consideration. 11 

8 Herald's College Report, Page Genealogy, p. 34 : " Sir Richard 
Brown, in his will, requesced to be buried in the churchyard, he 
being much offended at the novel custom of burying every one 
within the body of the church and chancel, that being a favour 
heretofore granted only to martyrs and great persons." — Entry 
Febry., 1683, Evelyn's Diary, (Jhandos Classics. 

10 Lee of Virginia, p. 319. 

"Keith's Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, p. 46; British Colon- 
ial Papers, Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 26. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 73 

John Carter arrived about 1649. There is no trust- 
worthy information as to his origin, though he is con- 
jectured, apparently without any ground, to have been 
a member of the Carter family long seated in Hert- 
fordshire. 12 The prominence of this family in Vir- 
ginia, which has been almost exclusively social, really 
began early in the eighteenth century with Robert 
Carter, who combined with extraordinary wealth 
(partly inherited and partly accumulated by his own 
foresight) a remarkable personal impressiveness. The 
two together led to his receiving the name of "King 
Carter." Robert Carter and the second William Byrd, 
who were the most distinguished members of their 
families, were both born in the last quarter of the 
seventeenth century, and their characters were largely 
moulded by the influences which then prevailed. In 
their affluent style of life, great landed estates, troops 
of dependents, lordly deportment, and far reaching au- 
thority, they were the equals of the first proprietors 
among the English country gentry of their day. 

The family of Colonel Peter Ashton, of Westmore- 
land county, were sprung from the Ashtons, of Spald- 
ing, in Lincolnshire, one of the most ancient families 
residing in that part of England, whilst the Burwells 
traced their descent immediately to a family equally 
ancient in Bedfordshire. 13 The Smiths, of Abingdmi 
parish, in Gloucester county, were, through Elizabeth 

14 This claim is set forth in the Carter Family Tree, but does 
not appear to be substantiated; see William and Mary College 
Quart. , Vol. I., p. 138. 

"For Ashtons, -ee Letters of William Fitzhugh, .Tan'y 30, 
1G8G-7. For Burwells, see Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 260. 



74 The Social Life of Virginia 

Cox, an offshoot of the Stracheys, of Sutton Court, in 
Somersetshire. 14 

A considerable number of the leading families of 
Virginia in the seventeenth century were directly de- 
scended from Englishmen who were distinguished in 
the professions, but who, in most cases, can be traced 
back to the landed gentry. William Fitzhugh, who ac- 
cumulated a large estate, left a long series of interest- 
ing letters, and founded a representative family, was 
the son of a lawyer in practice at Bedford. As his 
brother, Henry Fitzhugh, enjoyed considerable inter- 
est at Court, it is probable that the family connection 
possessed social and political influence. There is some 
reason indeed to think that the Fitzhughs of Bedford 
were a remote branch of the Fitzhughs of Ravens- 
worth, who had been raised to a barony. 15 The Dou- 
thats also appear to have borne a close relation to 
the legal profession in England. 16 Philip Lightfoot, 
the first of the Lightfoot family to come over, was the 
son of John Lightfoot, a barrister of Gray's Inn, in 
London. 17 Charles Fiarmar, who settled on the East- 

14 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 400. 

15 Lee of Virginia, p. 89; The Fitzhugh Family, Va. Maga. of 
Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII. One of the former homes of the Fitz- 
hughs in Virginia is named Ravensworth. It is now the property 
of Mrs. William H. Fitzhugh Lee. 

16 York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 187, Va. St. Libr: 
Margaret Pryor, daughter of William Pryor, of York county, re- 
turned to England and married Thomas Edwards, of " Inner 
Temple, Gentleman." She sold the lands which she had inherited 
in Virginia. See York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 392, Va. 
St. Libr. 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II., p. 91; Va. Maga. 
of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 397. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 75 

em Shore, was the cousin of John Harmar, professor 
of the Greek Language in Oxford University. 18 
Thomas and Henry Batte, the earliest of their name 
to arrive in Virginia, and the progenitors of a distin- 
guished family connection, were the sons of Robert 
Batte, Vice-Master of University College at the same 
great seat of learning. 19 Christopher Robinson, who 
emigrated to the Colony in 1666 and established him- 
self in Middlesex, where he at once became one of the 
leading members of the community, was a brother of 
John Robinson, Bishop of London. Robinson showed 
his attachment to his old home in England by naming 
after it his new home in Virginia — Hewick. 20 Isaac 
Bargrave, one of the earliest settlers in the Colony, 
was a brother of the Dean of Canterbury. 21 Peter 
Montague, the emigrant, was the second cousin of 
Richard Montague, who was the Bishop, first of Chi- 
chester, and afterwards of Norwich. 22 William Juxon, 
of York county, was a kinsman of Bishop Juxon, who 
received the last words of Charles I. As early as 
1625 William Pinder, rector of Mottisfount, Southamp- 
ton, left ten pounds sterling to his nephew, Thomas 
Singleton, then in Virginia. 23 Bequests of this kind 
constantly occur in the later history of the Colony. 
For instance, in 1672 Edward Newman received a like 
sum under the will of his uncle, a canon of Windsor 
Castle ; and in 1691 William Bolton, a clergyman re- 
siding at Harrow-on-the-Hill, in Middlesex, England, 

18 Vai. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., p. 274. 

"William and .Vary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 196. 

; ' Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. IIT., p. 13. 

" See Bargrave, Waters's Gleanings. 

- History of Peter Montague, pp. 30, 49. 

23 Pinder Will, Waters's Gleanings. 



?6 The Social Life of Virginia 

made his brother in Virginia his residuary legatee. 24 
About 1669 a prominent citizen of York county pro- 
vided in his will that, should his children die before 
they came of age, one hundred pounds sterling should 
be paid by his executors to his kinsman, Prebend Ter- 
rill, of Windsor. 25 

There were in Virginia during the seventeenth cen- 
tury a considerable number of prominent families 
sprung from English military officers. I have in a pre- 
vious chapter referred to those of this origin who were 
descended from Cavaliers with titles indicating social 
rank ; but there were numerous others descended from 
Cavalier officers who were without such titles. Some 
of the supporters of the royal cause who found their 
way to the Colony were, like Robert Jones, merely 
common soldiers, but, perhaps, like him, had been 
wounded in battle in the King's service. After his 
capture, Jones was shipped to the plantations, but 
seems to have returned to England before the death of 
Charles II. 26 An officer of distinction who found an 
asylum in Virginia was General Mainwaring Ham- 
mond. He arrived about 1649, tne ver y y ear Charles I. 
perished on the scaffold, and was accompanied by Sir 
Philip Honeywood, who also had been an officer in 
the royal army. Other officers of high rank abandon- 
ing England under the influence of their hatred of the 
existing government were Majors Philip Stevens, 
John Brodnax, and Richard Fox, and Colonels Guy 
Molesworth, Joseph Bridger and Henry Norwood. In 
the band of Cavaliers seeking a home in the Colony 
there were a number who had been active supporters 

24 See Waters's Glea'nirgs, years 1625, 1672, and 1691. 

25 York Records, Vol. 1669-72, p. 160, Va. St. Libr. 
2C British Colonial Papers, Vol. XLV, No. 3, 31. 



in the Seventeenth Century. jj 

of the King without, however, possessing a military- 
title. Such were Anthony Langston, Henry Bishop, 
Alexander Culpeper, and Jeremiah Harrison ; such 
also quite probably were the nine gentlemen, whose 
names, with the prefix of "mister," an indication at 
that day of social position, are included in the list of 
headrights offered by Sir Thomas Lunsford to secure 
a land patent in 1650, the year of his arrival. Some of 
these companions of Lunsford, himself a Cavalier of- 
ficer of distinction, had, no doubt, held commissions in 
the royal army, while all had, in one capacity or an- 
other, either military or civil, striven to advance the 
royal cause. Jeremiah Harrison had married the 
daughter of the man by whose fidelity and coolness 
Charles II. had been saved just after the battle of 
Worcester, which had proved so disastrous to his for- 
tunes. Henry Bishop became a citizen of Virginia pre- 
vious to 1646, in which year he was commissioned by 
the House of Burgesses to return to England in order 
to deliver a letter addressed by that body to the Eng- 
lish Parliament. He seems to have remained, for, in 
1660, he filled the high office of Postmaster-General of 
the Kingdom. 27 

Among the most active supporters of the royal cause 

27 For the various details about the different Cavaliers men- 
tioned in the previous sentences of this paragraph, see Va. Maga. 
of Hist, and Bio?., Vol. III., p. 266, Vol. VEIL, p. 300. and Wil- 
li;! in and Mary College Quart., Vol. VI., p. 00. Major John Brod- 
nax, the first of his distinguished name in Virginia, which is still 
associated with Brunswick county, died in York county. Mr. Lyon 
G. Tyler has called attention to the interesting fact that the will 
and inventory of Brodnax -how his possession of all those articles 
of dress which are associated with the popular conception of the 
fashionable and dashing Cavalier. See William and Mary College 
Quart., Vol. VI., p. 61. 



yS The Social Life of Virginia 

were the Randolphs, a family which enjoyed some dis- 
tinction in England, not the smallest part of which 
was derived from the fame of a member who had be- 
come celebrated as one of the first poets of that day. 
They were, to use the words of one of their number, 
"entirely broken and dispersed" by the upshot of the 
Civil Wars ; 28 but in emigrating to Virginia, William 
Randolph had taken the first important step, not only 
towards restoring the fortunes of the family, but also 
towards raising those fortunes to a point which had 
not been reached in England. Before the close of the 
colonial period a series of noble plantations in the most 
fertile part of the country along the Lower James 
River had become the property of the Randolphs in 
their various branches. Here they had lived in a state 
of affluence remarkable even in the most prosperous 
days of the Colony; had filled a succession of high 
public offices ; had received the honor of knighthood ; 
had intermarried with all the most powerful families ; 
and had enjoyed a degree of social and political influ- 
ence unsurpassed in those times. Nor did their dis- 
tinction come to an end with that memorable era. 
Among the most prominent names in the period of the 
Revolution and the foundation of the national govern- 
ment were Peyton and Edmund Randolph ; and in the 
great crisis of Secession there was an equally brilliant 
representative of the same family in George Wythe 
Randolph, the first Confederate Secretary of War. 29 



28 Va. Maga'. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., p. 266; see obituary 
notice of Sir John Randolph, of Virginia, in the Virginia Gazette. 

29 The present senior P. E. Bishop of Southern Virginia, the 
Right Rev. A. M. Randolph, D. D., so distinguished for great 
learning, moving eloquence, and saintly piety, is a member of this 
family. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 79 

The Mason family is descended from Colonel George 
Mason, who, according to an unconfirmed tradition, 
only after the crowning defeat of the royal cause at 
the battle of Worcester left England to settle in the 
Colony. He had been preceded by Gerard Fowke, a 
cousin who had been a member of the royal household 
as well as a colonel in the royal army. 30 Thomas 
Landon, the first of the Landon family to go out to 
the Colony, had been the eldest groom of the King's 
buttery, a position of a higher social character in that 
age of extravagant loyalty than it would be in these 
times when so much of the divinity that hedged a 
monarch has passed away. 31 The wife of the elder 
William Byrd was the grand-daughter of a clergyman, 
who, like Rev. Lawrence Washington, had, in 1643, 
been ejected from his benefice on the ground that he 
was a "malignant loyalist." A number of these clergy- 
men appear to have settled in Virginia. 32 

These emigrants to Virginia, who had taken an ac- 
tive part in the Civil Wars, or had openly sympathized 
with the royal cause in the great conflict between 
King and Parliament, enjoyed an influence in the social 
life of the Colony which was out of proportion to their 
mere number. Some of these men, as we have seen, 
were persons of rank in England ; others were untitled 
officers in the royal armies, and, with few exceptions, 
all were sprung from the English landed gentry. They 

80 Dinwiddie Papers, Va. Hist. Soc. Coll., p. 23. 

31 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 431. 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IX., p. 10: Berkeley 
wrote in 1671: "We had few (clergymen) we could boast of since 
the persecution in Cromwell's tyranny drove divers worthy men 
thither;" Hening's Statutes, Vol. II., p. 517. 



80 The Social Life of Virginia 

brought with them to Virginia the tastes and habits of 
the society in which they had moved, and to which 
they had belonged by birth as well as by association, 
the society of the English country gentlemen. The 
most characteristic features of that society had, in 
no small measure, been already introduced into the 
Colony by those among the previous English settlers 
who had mingled in it in their native land. The plan- 
tation life in which men like Lunsford, Honeyman, 
Skipwith, Norwood, Stevens, Mason, Molesworth, 
Brodnax, and Fowke found an asylum must have ap- 
peared to them as marked by much that was familiar in 
spirit, custom, and habit as compared with that life 
which they had so recently left behind. There was the 
same disposition to enjoy with heartiness all the 
sources of happiness and pleasure which life afforded ; 
the same love of overflowing good cheer; the same 
taste for dancing, card-playing, and other indoor 
amusements ; the same interest in horse, dog, and gun, 
in racing, coursing, and shooting; and the same loy- 
alty to King and Church, which had prevailed among 
the Cavaliers of England. These gentlemen of recog- 
nized position in England, these soldiers who bore 
upon their persons the scars which proved the firm- 
ness of their courage and the strength of their devo- 
tion to their sovereign, must, in the homes of the prin- 
cipal planters, have possessed an extraordinary pres- 
tige on account both of what they had suffered and 
what they had represented in the Mother Countrv. 
The participation of such men in the current of the 
social life around them must have given it a stronger 
impulse in the direction it was already running; and 
also have done much to confirm and accentuate those 



in the Seventeenth Century. 8i 

peculiarities which already existed. Emigrants, like 
Richard Lee and the elder Nathaniel Bacon, sprung 
from distinguished families, although without mili- 
tary reputation, no doubt, soon after their arrival, be- 
came the social leaders of the community, and by the 
dignity of their personal appearance and bearing, and 
thorough knowledge of all the refinements of the best 
society of that day made a lasting impression upon the 
social life of the Colony. 

Nor, in describing the social influence of the Cava- 
liers, should Sir William Berkeley be forgotten. Ap- 
pointed to the Governorship about 1642, he remained 
in office, with the exception of the interval of the Pro- 
tectorate, until 1676. All the accounts unite in repre- 
senting him as having enjoyed a great popularity down 
to the last ten years of his administration, when he al- 
lowed himself to fall so completely under those re- 
actionary influences which arose both in Virginia and 
England after the Restoration. He was, from many 
points of view, a type of the extreme Cavalier. Sprung 
from one of the oldest and proudest families in Eng- 
land ; the favorite of royalty and trained in the atmos- 
phere of a Court ; headstrong, irascible, impulsive, 
domineering, yet capable of assuming all the concilia- 
tory graces of one long accustomed to the best society 
of his times ; a man of imposing appearance and bear- 
ing on all occasions ; an aristocrat in every feeling and 
opinion ; brave to recklessness, and ready at any mo- 
ment to maintain his honor with the sword at his 
side, — such are the outlines of a character, which, 
stamping itself deeply in many ways upon the con- 
temporary social life of the Colony, must have served, 
like the presence of the emigrant Cavaliers, to 



82 The Social Life of Virginia 

strengthen the sympathies of the Virginian planters 
with all those ideas, standards, and habits which had 
immemorially distinguished the great body of the Eng- 
lish people. 



VI. 

Origin of the Higher Planting Class, — Continued. 

PERHAPS the most important section of the higher 
planting class during the seventeenth century were 
the families sprung directly from English merchants. 
Many of these descendants of English merchants, however, 
traced their pedigrees back, and that, too, not remotely, 
to landed proprietors in the different shires, for in that 
age a very large proportion of those engaged in trade 
in the cities had come in from the rural parishes. The 
law of primogeniture, which was, perhaps, more deeply 
rooted in England in those times than in these, had, as 
already stated, a powerful influence in causing many of 
the younger sons of the landed gentry to emigrate to 
Virginia in search of fortune; but it had an even more 
powerful influence in forcing many of these younger 
sons into mercantile, and even into mechanical, pursuits 
in order to earn a subsistence without leaving their native 
country. 

From a very early period, the trade guilds had filled a 
conspicuous place in all the larger English towns, and no- 
where was their supremacy within their own sphere of 
operation more absolute than in London; in that city, 
no one was permitted to cast a vote for municipal officers 
unless he had served an apprenticeship in one of the 
livery companies or crafts ; and this regulation prevailed 
generally in all the other cities of the kingdom. This 
privileged exclusiveness made the mercantile and me- 
chanical callings uniformly profitable. When there were 
three or four sons to be provided for by a father who 



84 The Social Life of Virginia 

was a country gentleman, it was usual, in the seventeenth 
century, to keep the eldest at home if he was to inherit 
the whole of the landed estates ; the second was sent to 
one of the great universities, in order to prepare himself 
to enter a learned profession, such as law, physic, or di- 
vinity; the third was apprenticed to a local solicitor, 
apothecary, or surgeon; the fourth to a pewterer or 
watch-maker, or the like. It will be observed that the 
employments selected were graduated in social import- 
ance according to the relative ages of the sons ; the 
youngest fared the worst in the dignity of the calling 
chosen for him, but in order that he might acquire the 
highest skill in his mechanical craft, it was customary 
for him to be dispatched to London (the greatest centre 
of business in the kingdom, and the finest school in which 
to learn an art), because it was known that there he 
would enjoy every opportunity of perfecting himself in 
his special pursuit. At the end of his time, he would 
return to the village or town nearest to his former home. 1 
As the purely manual crafts were not admitted to the 
guilds, and the membership of the guilds themselves was 
confined to men who had enjoyed a long and careful 
training, there was no disposition to shut out from gen- 
teel society those persons belonging to these corporations 
who followed the lower branches of the arts; whilst so 
much wealth was accumulated by the persons who fol- 
lowed the higher, that they were able, not only to inter- 
marry with the noblest families in the kingdom, but also 
to found new families of great distinction. 

All of the London guilds (which included in their 
membership persons who had, in early life, come to that 

1 See Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte, chap. III.; aho 
the Life of Sir Humphrey Davy. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 85 

great centre of trade from every part of England) were 
deeply interested in the early settlement of Virginia ; this 
is shown by the fact that, among the subscribers to the 
charter of 1612, were ten mercers, twelve goldsmiths, 
seventy grocers, twenty drapers and tailors respectively, 
ten skinners, two salters, ten ironmongers, twelve haber- 
dashers, sixteen clothworkers, and four vintners. These 
merchants and manufacturers were sagacious enough to 
perceive that the Colony would, in time, raise up a host 
of new purchasers for their goods and products. 
Throughout the seventeenth century, it was the trades- 
men of London who took the leading part in supplying 
the various needs of the Virginian planters ; their princi- 
pal rivals in this traffic were the tradesmen of Bristol, who 
were among the most active and enterprising in that 
age; while following at a distance in sharing the profits 
of this commerce were the tradesmen of Weymouth, 
Dartmouth, Hull, Plymouth, Biddeford, and Barnstaple. 
Many of the merchants engaged in trade with Vir- 
ginia visited the Colony in the course of their business, 
and a very considerable proportion, already having rela- 
tives there, or forming new ties, or discovering in this 
new field a better chance of fortune than in the old in 
England, remained there permanently. 2 

•That these visits on the part of English merchants were very 
numerous was shown by the wills which they made before set- 
ting out on so long and so dangerous a voyage, and which wore 
after wards recorded. An example will be found in the will of 
Nathaniel Braddock, Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. XT., p. 
149, and of William Wraxall, Idem, p. 3G1. See for the wills of 
other visiting merchants the "Virginia Gleanings in England," 
published in Va. Maga, of History and Biography. John Brewer, 
formerly a grocer of London, was, at. his death, in 1635, a membar 
of the Va. Council; Va. Maga. of TTist. and Biog., Vol. XI., p. 317. 



86 The Social Life of Virginia 

During periods of extraordinary commotion in Eng- 
land, which brought about a disturbance of trade and 
encouraged severe exactions, many English merchants 
removed to the Colony in order to secure peace and 
quiet ; this was especially the case at the beginning of 
the armed conflicts between Charles I. and his Parlia- 
ment, which, following upon a period of retmarkable 
prosperity, was to cause so much ruin and confusion 
by the interruption of foreign commerce, the sacking of 
cities and the passage of predatory troops in all direc- 
tions. 3 

Among those engaged in business in Virginia at a 
very early date, after, perhaps, some experience of the 
like pursuits in England, were George Menifie, John 
Chew, and Abraham Piersey, men whose names are al- 
ways coupled with the term "merchant" in the records. 
All three rose to wealth and prominence in the Colony, 
and at least one, Chew, founded a family of distinction 
and influence. 4 

Berkeley Hundred, which spread over eighty thousand 
acres, was, in the beginning, taken up under a patent 
granted to seven well-known merchants of London, and 
of the seven, all probably, but certainly three, William 
Tucker, Maurice Thompson, and Cornelius Lloyd, went 
out to Virginia in search of fortune. 5 The first patent to 
Martin's Brandon was acquired by three English mer- 

3 Tyler's Cradle of the Republic, p. 47. For prosperity in Eng- 
land about 1630, see Green's Short History of the English People, 
chap, viii, sect. 5. Clarendon also dwells upon it in his history. 

4 The Virginia Land Patent Books. The same is observed in 
the county records in the case of leading men like Cornelius Lloyd, 
of Lower Norfolk county; see Records of that county, orig., Vol. 
1646-51, p. 81. 

6 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VI. p. 185. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 87 

chants, one of whom, Richard Quiney, was a kinsman of 
Shakspere's son-in-law of that name. 

The earliest of the Ferrers to settle in the Colony was 
nearly related by blood to Nicholas Ferrer, who, sprung 
from an old family of Hertford, had, when very young, 
been apprenticed to a skinner of London, to become, in 
time, the master of the skinner's guild, a merchant of 
great eminence, and the trusted friend of many of the 
most celebrated seamen and statesmen of those times, 
among others, Drake and Hawkins, Sandys and Raleigh. 
He was one of the most distinguished members of the 
London Company, and among the most earnest and con- 
stant, as well as wisest supporters of that great enter- 
prise. Even after the revocation of the charter, the 
Ferrers in England continued to show an active interest 
in every scheme that would advance the welfare of Vir- 
ginia. 7 

The father of Captain Ralph Hamor, who, escaping 
with his life by a hair's breadth from the frightful mas- 
sacre of 1622, wrote an account of the early history of 
the Colony, was the son of a merchant tailor. 8 William 

" Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VI., p. 187. 

7 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 320; Bruce's 
"Economic Hist, of Va. in the Seventeenth Century," Vol. I., p. 
305, et scq. For a remarkable account of the Ferrer religious 
establishment at Little Gitting, sec Shorthouse's "John Inglesant." 
The history of Nicholas Ferrer's career -hows what was done in 
England in those times with so many young men of good family, 
when they had to he settled in life, and also the fortunes which 
so many acquired in trade. Nicholas married Mary Woodenoth, 
who was of yen ancient lineage. — Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., 
Vol. VII., p. 320. 

'Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 1 IS. 
note, Va. Hist. Soc. Pubs. 



88 Social Life of Virginia 

Claiborne, at one time, as already mentioned, Secretary 
of Virginia, a Commissioner of Parliament and promi 
nent in many ways, had a brother who occupied a shop 
on Ludgate Hill, in London, where he was a dealer in 
clothing. 9 As the Claiborne or Cleburne family, from 
which these two brothers were directly sprung, was one 
of the most ancient in the English county of Westmore- 
land, the adoption of a trade by one of them as a pursuit 
in life, thus imitating the example of Nicholas Ferrer 
and so many other young men of gentle descent, serves 
to show both the greater social dignity of the ordinary 
crafts in the England of that day than in the England 
of this, and also the greater narrowness of the field of 
employment. In preferring to emigrate to Virginia 
rather than to follow in the footsteps of his brother in 
London, William Claiborne discloses how powerful 
was the influence leading so many young Englishmen 
in those times to seek their fortune in the Colony. 

The Brooke family was already well known in Vir- 
ginia in the seventeenth century. In a deed drawn up 
before 1650, John Brooke, of Essex-shire, referred to him- 
self as "clothier," and named as his attorney in the Col- 
ony his relative, Henry Brooke, who resided there. We 
learn from this deed that Barnaby Brooke, a brother of 
John, died at sea, while on his way to Virginia in charge 
of a large quantity of merchandise. Nor were these the 
only kinsmen of Henry Brooke who were engaged in trade 

Governor Harvey, in a letter to Lord Dorchester, dated 
May 29, 1630, described him as a "stocking-seller." See British 
Colonial Papers for 1630, No. 5; see, also, Vol. V., No. 93. As 
Harvey was an enemy of Claiborne on account of a violent 
difference of opinion as to Baltimore's right to colonize Mary- 
land, this term applied to Claiborne's brother was used con- 
temptuously, without perhaps expressing the truth exactly. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 89 

in England ; in a second deed, dated as early as 1638, we 
find him mentioning the name of Nicholas Brooke, who, 
it appears, was a merchant of London. 10 

Captain Robert Higginson, who was sent, in 1644, to 
build a palisade at the Middle Plantation, was the son of 
a painter-stainer, whose place of business was in London 
also. 11 In the same year, the earliest member of the 
Bushrod family to settle in Virginia entered his name in 
the records of the Eastern Shore as a merchant. 12 Rich- 
ard Death, a well-known citizen of Isle of Wight County, 
about this time, in his will, devised property to a son be- 
longing to the guild of Merchant Tailors in London. 13 
Captain Robert Felgate, of York, who was even more 
prominent in the Colony, was a brother of William Fel- 
gate, of the guild of skinners in the same great city; in 
his will, bearing the date of 1644, he referred to himself 
as "gentleman," a term which had also been applied to 
Toby Felgate on his arrival in 1619. 14 Among the per- 
sons who acquired patents to lands situated within the 
boundaries of Shirley Hundred, was John Brewer, a 
member of the Grocer's guild of London, whose sons 
settled permanently in Virginia. 15 The Allertons, of the 
Northern Neck, a family of great distinction in the Col- 
ony, and possessing a wide and prominent connection 

'"York County Kecords, Vol. 1G38-4S, p. 63, Va. St. Libr. Copy. 

"William ami Mary College Quart., Vol. XII., p. 36. 

u Northampton County Records, orders duly '21', 1644. 
[sle of Wight County Records, Wills for Hi 17. 

"York County Records, Vol. 1633-94, pp. 71-2, Va. St. Libr. 
Copy. Brown's First Republic, pp. 371, 41::. Toby Felgate was 
alive in 1630, as we know from a land patent which be acquired 
in that year. 

16 Va. Maga. of Bist. ami Biog., Vol. III., p. 183. Brewer him- 
self died in Virginia. 



90 The Social Life of Virginia 

through marriage, were sprung from Isaac Allerton, an 
English merchant-tailor. 16 Samuel Haywood, who inter- 
married with the Washingtons, and was himself the 
founder of an influential family, was the son of a wealthy 
merchant of London. 17 

Henry Corbin, of Westmoreland county, who, as we 
have seen, traced his pedigree to the Corbins of Hall 
End, in Warwickshire, a family of high standing among 
the English country gentry, had a brother in London 
who belonged to the guild of leather sellers. 18 A cousin 
of James Ashton, of the same county, a member very 
probably of the ancient family of Ashtons, of 
Spalding, in Lincolnshire, followed the trade of 
haberdasher in Covent Garden. 19 The Corbin and 
Ashton families, each in the full enjoyment of 
a distinguished social position in England, illustrated 
in the same striking way as the Claiborne family, the 
powerful influence that led some members to engage in 
trade in England, and others to seek their fortunes in 
Virginia. Cadwallader Jones, of Rappahannock county, 
was the son of Richard Jones, a London merchant. 20 A 
son of Richard Lee, the emigrant, left Virginia, and 
making his home in that city, remained in business there 
until his death. 21 The ancestor of the Booker family, 

16 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV, p. 39. 

17 Willliam and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV, p. 40. 

18 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 30. 
"Letters of William Fitzhugh, Janry 30, 1G8G-7; Va. Maga. 

of Hist, and Biog., Vol. X., p. 292. The Ashton home in Virginia 
was known as " Chatterton," the name of the residence of the 
Lancashire branch in England, the original seat of the family. 

20 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 31. 

21 Lee of Virginia, p. 71. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 91 

which acquired prominence at a later date, was an English 
merchant, who carried on a large trade with Virginia 
about the middle of the seventeenth century/ 22 

A brother of John and Henry Batte, sonsNrf a Vice- 
Master of Oxford University, and the first of their name 
to remove to Virginia, was a member of the Grocers' 
guild in London. 23 Richard Bennett, who belonged to 
the family which Lord Arlington had made so conspicu- 
ous in England, was the nephew of an English mer- 
chant, who was interested in the trade with the Colony. 24 
William Byrd, the founder of one of the most distin- 
guished families in colonial history, was the son of a 
London banker or goldsmith 25 , whilst the Blands, who 
traced back to English landed proprietors, were sprung 
directly from Adam Bland, a member of the skinners' 
guild in the same city. Of the two sons of Adam Bland, 
one followed the business of a merchant-tailor, the other, 
that of a grocer. 26 Both the father and uncle of Thomas 
and Philip Ludwell were participants in the trade of 
mercers ; the father, as we have seen, had married a niece 
of Lord Cottington, one of the most famous public men 
of those times. 27 The first of the Fitzhughs was prob- 
ably the grandson of a maltster of Bedford, through 
whom, however, he was, with equal probability, related 

M V a. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 95. 

23 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 79. 

21 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. III., pp. 53, 54. 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 153. 

28 Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. 83, 
note; Va, Hist. Soc. Pub. See, also, Hayden's "Virginia Gen- 
ealogies." 

27 Wators's Gleaning-, p. 71!>; Lee of Virginia, p. L27; William 
and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 110. 



92 The Social Life of Virginia 

to the Fitzhughs of Ravensworth, the possessors, as al- 
ready stated, of a barony. 28 

Among the leading families which were associated 
with York county, were the Vaulx and Munford. The 
member of the Vaulx family, Thomas, by name, who was 
a justice of that county in 1670, seems to have been ac- 
companied to Virginia by Humphrey and James Vaulx. 
The three were brothers of Robert Vaulx, a wealthy 
merchant of London, who, at one time, resided in the 
Colony, but perhaps only to obtain a practical knowledge 
upon the ground of the character of its business, for he 
returned to England. 20 William Munford came over to 
Virginia as the agent of his brother, John Munford, a 
London grocer; he describes himself in various deeds 
sometimes as "mercer," and sometimes as "tobacconist." 
It is possible that these two early merchants were broth- 
ers, or at least near relations, of Robert Munford, to 
whom the well-known family of Munfords of Virginia 
trace their origin. 30 Among the merchants trading in 
York county, who left descendants, were John Lockey 
and Thomas Griffith. Griffith had emigrated from Lon- 
don. 31 Hugh Stanford, who died in that county in 1657, 
was the brother of Anthony Stanford, a prominent mer- 
chant of the same great city. 32 The first members of the 
Washington family to emigrate, through the marriages 
of their cousins, the daughters of Sir William Washing- 
ton, were also connected with the trades of London ; 

28 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII. ; see Fitzhugh Family. 
20 York County Records, Vol. 1684-87, p. 170, Va. St. Libr. 
Copy. William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. III., p. 14. 

30 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 153, Vol. VI., 
p. 128; York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, pp. 28, 135, Va. St. 
Libr. Copy. 

31 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VIII., p. 202. 
82 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. III., p. 14. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 93 

Susannah was the wife of Reginald Graham, a member 
of the draper guild, and her sister, of Colonel William 
Legge, a descendant of a Lord Mayor, who had accum- 
ulated a large estate by his talents for business. 33 

Among the leading citizens of York county was Peter 
Perry, a brother of Micajah Perry, who had also filled 
the same great office of Lord Mayor, and who was per- 
haps the most conspicuous English merchant engaged, 
during the seventeenth century, in supplying the plants 
during the seventeenth century, in supplying the planters 
of Virginia with goods of all kinds in exchange for to- 
bacco, in which trade he succeeded in making a large 
fortune. It is probable that, like so many settlers in the 
Colony who were connected by ties of family with wealthy 
English merchants, Peter Perry combined the calling ol 
a planter with the occupation of looking after his broth- 
er's interests in that part of Virginia. William Lee, a 
resident of the same county, was a brother of George 
Lee, a merchant of London, who enjoyed a profitable 
share in the Colonial trade. 34 Miles Cary, the first of the 
Cary family to leave England, and a relative of Lord 
Hunsdon, was the son of John Cary, a woolen draper of 
Bristol. 35 The Boilings, who, by the marriage of John 

,3 Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, p. XVTT. Colonel William 
Legge was tho ancestor of the present Earl of Dartmouth. Sir 
William Washington had married a half-sister of tho Duke of 
Buckingham. The marriage of his daughter Susannah shows the 
social standing of successful members of the London Guilds at 
that period. 

M For Perry and Lee, see William and Mary College Quart.. 
Vol. L. p. SO. et aeq. 

"The will of Alice Cary, of Stepney, Middlesex, bequeathed "to 
my grandfather. John ( ary. of Bristol, woolen draper, one -lull- 
ing, and to my uncle, Myles Cary, one shilli-g." — Waters'* mean- 
ings, p. 1056. 



94 The Social Life of Virginia 

Boiling with Jane Rolfe, descended from Pocahontas, 
and whose social prominence began in the seventeenth 
century, were probably derived from Robert Boiling, a 
silk throwster of London. 36 The Peytons, who, like the 
Skipwiths, were represented in the Colony by a baronet, 
traced their ancestry back to Sir Edward Osborne, a 
member of the guild of cloth-workers, a Lord Mayor of 
London, and the founder of the ducal house of Leeds in 
the English peerage. Henry Peyton, who settled in Staf- 
ford county, had before his emigration from the Mother 
Country, been a member of a trading guild. 37 Henry 
Freeman, a landowner of York county, had formerly 
been a mercer at Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, while 
Isaac Clopton, who was a justice of York county in 
1676, had been a haberdasher before leaving England. 3S 
The Harwar family was probably sprung from Samuel 
Harwar, a merchant tailor of London. 39 Henry Sewell, 
a prominent citizen of Lower Norfolk county, where his 
name is perpetuated in Sewell's Point on Hampton 
Roads, was not only the son of a merchant, but also in 
early life, served a full apprenticeship to a trade in Yar- 
mouth, England. 40 The first of the Buckners to settle 
in Virginia was closely connected by blood with a 
wealthy family of the same name established in business 
in London, one o'f whom belonged to the guild of mer- 

36 Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, see Boiling Family. 

37 Hayden's Virginia Genealogies, see Peyton Family. 

88 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. II. p. 165; Vol. V., 
p. 80. 

89 York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 458, Va. St. Libr. 
"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-1666, p. 374 2 . 



in the Seventeenth Century. 95 

chant-tailors." 11 Thomas Wardley, of York county, was 
the heir of Thomas Wardley, a leading member of the 
same guild, and drew an income from property which 
his father had bequeathed him in Cheapside. 42 About 
1665, James Bailey, a draper living in London, made a 
grant of live-stock to his sister-in-law, who had gone out 
to Virginia. 43 Five years later, William Collin, a mem- 
ber of the weaver's guild in the same city, settled in the 
Colony. 44 John Sandford, a resident of Lower Norfolk- 
county, was a near kinsman of Richard Sandford, of 
Exeter, who followed the trade of dyer, one of the most 
important in England. 4 "' The Booths were closely related 
to Richard Booth, a leading merchant of London, and 
member of a family which, as we have seen, numbered 
among their kindred the Earls of Warrington. 40 

The sister of the elder Nathaniel Bacon married An- 
thony Smith, a member of the guild of tanners ; her 
grandfather, Sir James Bacon, of Freston Hall, the 
nephew of the Chancellor, and grandson of the Lord 
Keeper of the same surname, was the son of a member of 
the guild of salters. Richard Foote, who emigrated to 
Virginia near the close of the seventeenth century, was 
the son of a person of the same name who had accumu- 
lated a fortune in trade in England. Members of this 
family were owners of large estates in Cornwall, and 

41 Aeponiao County Records, Vol. 1663-66, folio, p. 82. It is not 
improbable that the Buckners of Virginia wore sprung directly 
from one of these London merchants. 

"York County Records, vol. 1657-62, p. :;:.s. Ya. St. Libr. Copy. 

"York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, \>. 189, Va. St. Libr. Copy. 

"William and Mary College Quart., Vol. VIII., p. 'J.Mi. 

"William and .Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. Hi. 

"British Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 1676-81, p. 182. 



96 The Social Life of Virginia 

were entitled to bear arms ; among the distinguished men 
whom the family produced was Samuel Foote, who en- 
joyed great celebrity as an actor. 47 John Beachamp, who 
is referred to in the records as "of James River, gentle- 
man," was a brother of William Beachamp, a member of 
the guild of vintners in London ; John Beachamp himself 
had, at one time, perhaps, been a merchant in the same 
city, for, about 1678, a person of that name was engaged 
in business in St. Giles parish, Cripplegate without. The 
estate which he owned in Virginia at his death was trans- 
ferred by his heirs to his brother, the vintner. 4s Samuel 
Timson, a leading citizen of York county about 1683, had 
formerly been a woodmonger of London. William Fel- 
lowes, a member of the same guild, had married the 
widow of Captain Philip Chesney, of the Colony. 49 
James Crews, of Henrico county, was a near kinsman of 
James and Mathew Crews, who followed the calling of 
haberdashers in London ; their niece was the wife of 
William Whittingham, of that city, whose name always 
appeared in legal papers accompanied by the term "gen- 
tleman." 50 About 1687, Otho Thorpe, a merchant of 
London, bequeathed his estate in Virginia to his niece 
and other relatives. 51 

A small number of prominent families in Virginia in 

47 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 73. 

48 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1G77-92, orig., pp. 75, 79. 
"William and Mary College Quart,, Vol. III., p. 208; York 

County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 98. 

60 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 306. 

61 York County Records, Vol. 1684-7, p. 270, Va. St. Libr. 
Copy. This list could be greatly extended. See, for other Eng- 
lish merchants connected by social ties with Virginia, the "Vir- 
ginia Gleanings in England" in Virginia Magazine of History 
and Biography. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 97 

the seventeenth century were sprung directly from sea- 
captains, who, in some cases, had combined with that call- 
ing the business of active traders in the merchandize 
which they imported into the Colony. As a rule, these 
seamen were a superior body of men, and when they came 
to settle in the community, made valuable citizens. They 
had, for years, been exposed to the perils of repeated 
ocean voyages at a time when these voyages were far 
more adventurous than they are now ; and they had thus 
grown to be cool and self-reliant in the face of danger, 
and to bear all hardships with firmness. As they navi- 
gated their own ships, it followed that they possessed a 
certain amount of general education as well as special 
scientific information. Visiting the Colony year after 
year, they must have grown thoroughly familiar with all 
the conditions of trade and agriculture prevailing there, 
and this knowledge, no doubt, stood them in good stead 
when they decided to buy land and become permanent 
residents. Such was conspicuously the case witli Mindert 
Doodes, the Dutch sea-captain who settled in Virginia 
and became the ancestor of the Minor family. Thomas 
Hall, the first member of the Ball family whose name 
appears in the records of Lancaster county, where he was 
a large landowner, was always described as "mariner" 
in deeds. 02 Thomas Willoughby, of Lower Norfolk coun- 
ty, referred to himself in a like manner in private grants, 
and William Gainge in public patents. 53 Isaac Foxcroft, 
who was prominent in the affairs of Northampton about 
1675, described himself in deeds as "mariner, of Kings- 

e2 Lanoa-ln County Records, Vol. 1054-170-2. p. 20. Ball seems 
to have been a citizen of Northampton comity in 1655. 

"•Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-1666, p. 285; Va. 
Land Pat on Is for 1024. 



98 The Social Life of Virginia 

ton-upon-Hull." 54 Robert Ranson and Samuel Milburn, 
of Elizabeth City county, were similarly designated. 55 
Nicholas Jordan, a citizen of Lower Norfolk county, de- 
vised his estate, at least in part, to his brother, Robert 
Jordan, "mariner," of London, who probably, before his 
death, settled in Virginia. 56 Land was owned in the 
Colony also by ship-surgeons ; for instance, Dr. James 
Montgomery, of the man-of-war, St. Albans, who died at 
Richmond, England, about 1697, left his property in 
Virginia to be divided between his two brothers. 57 

The surviving county records of Virginia during the 
seventeenth century contain an extraordinary array of 
names, which have always been especially well known on 
account of their intimate association with English social 
or political history. This is peculiarly notable in the 
earliest records of the Eastern Shore, where, until recent 
times, owing to the isolation of this fertile peninsula, 
the population remained perhaps more purely English in 
origin than in any other part of our country. Attached 
to the depositions, land-grants, wills, and the like, pre- 
served in these records, will be found such names as 
Whittington, Stanley, Tatham, Carew, Goring, Wraxall, 
Fowke, Blake, Salisbury, Walpole, Capel, Luddington, 

54 See Northampton County Deeds for 167n. 

65 Elizabeth City County Records, Orders June 19, 1G99. 

66 Lower .Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1G66-75, p. 67. Cor- 
nelius Calvert always referred to himself in deeds as "Mariner." 
See Records of Lower Norfolk County. Calvert was the first of 
the well-known family of that name long associated with that 
part of Virginia. 

67 Waters's Gleanings, Will of Montgomery; see, also, York 
County Kecords, Vol. 1657-62, p. 118, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 99 

Nottingham, 68 Empson, Ratcliffe,Cade, Pitt, Sommerville, 
Mortimer, Fortescue, Somerset, Bloomfield, Harrington, 
and Marlow. We find in the earliest Surry Records such 
names as Cotton, Roscoe, Osborne, Shrewsbury, Shelly; 
in the York, Hyde, Peverill, Cromwell, Perceval, Went- 
worth ; in Henrico, Lisle, Napier, Milton, Bathurst ; in 
Elizabeth City and adjacent counties, Knox, Barham, 59 
and Goodrich ; in Isle of Wight, Bradshaw ; in Richmond. 
Ridley and Litton ; in Rappahannock, Paget, Parr, Low- 
ther, Gower, Swinburne, Morpeth, Burgoyne, St. John, 
and Blackstone; in Middlesex, Wharton and Churchill. 60 
The men who bore these famous names were, in many 
instances, owners of large estates or held prominent 
offices. 

Many families conspicuous in New England at this 
time, or at a later period, were also represented in Vir- 
ginia. Among the leading ones in Accomac were the 
Sturgis, Smalley, Dewey, and Washburn, whilst the 
Rnvenscroft name was as well known in Virginia as in 

58 After two hundred and fifty years' association with the 
social and political life of the Eastern Shore, the Nottingham 
family continues to-day to be one of the most prominent of all 
those seated in that part of Virginia. This is also true of many 
others which might be mentioned, such as the Wise, Wilkins, 
Kendall, Sarmanson, etc. Up to a recent date, the Eastern Shore 
was very much cul off from the rest of the world, and in conse- 
quence of this fact, the continuity of its family history was per- 
haps more unbroken than was to be observed anywhere else in the 
United States. 

""Anthony Barham, "gentleman," resided on Mulberry Island 
in James river. 

r " Many of these old English names have, in the course of time, 
become corrupted, such as Shrowsby for Shrewsbury and Tatum 
for Tatham. 



ioo The Social Life of Virginia 

the northern colonies. 61 Colonel Isaac Allerton, of the 
Northern Neck, was the son of Isaac Allerton, one of the 
Pilgrims who arrived in the "Mayflower," and, through 
his mother, the grandson of William Brewster, the leader 
of that memorable company. Among the planters resid- 
ing in that part of the Colony were the Broughtons and 
Lords, who had at first settled in New England. Sev- 
eral of these emigrants from the North, or their descend- 
ants of the same name, acquired some political import- 
ance; for instance, among the Burgesses elected in 1696, 
were John Washburne, Michael Sherman, and Joshua 
Story. 62 

It is not likely that the persons who came to Virginia 
from New England exercised any Puritan influence on 
the higher social life of the former Colony. The only 
trace of Puritan feeling in the more conspicuous families 
is observed in an occasional given name which had really 
come into common use during the period when Puritan 
thought was so prevalent among the whole body of the 
Church of England; it was doubtless then that Temper- 
ance became a favorite name in the Yeardley and Cocke 
families, Priscilla in the Ferrer, Prudence in the Morris, 
and Obedience in the Robins. 

The prominent families that reached Virginia by way 
of Barbadoes were as numerous as those that came in by 
way of New England. It was from this island that the 
Walkes, of Lower Norfolk county, and the Perrins and 
Marshalls, of Elizabeth City, emigrated to the Colony. 63 

61 Samuel Ravenseroft came to Virginia from New England 
about 1691-2; see Minutes of Assembly, April 25, 1692, British 
Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 1682-95. 

62 Minutes of H. of Burgesses Sept. 25,1696, B. T. Va., Vol. LII. 

63 Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, p. 212 2 . Eliza- 
beth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, pp. 212, 393, Va, St. Libr. 



VII. 

Social Distinctions. 

THE quickness with which the founders of such fami- 
lies as the Lee, Wormeley, Jennings, Randolph, 
Robinson, and Beverley rose to great influence after their 
arrival, shows that they were in a position to acquire lands 
in the Colony at once, because they had brought over 
with them the necessary means, which they had either 
inherited or received from their fathers. John Page, 
Miles Cary, and Nicholas Spencer continued to own 
property in England long after they had been in posses- 
sion of large estates in Virginia. 1 The earliest patents 
sued out by nearly all of the emigrants whose names 
soon became socially distinguished in the Colony, prove 
that they had, quite from the beginning, some fortune 
at their command with which to secure a share in the 
soil, and to establish a home; the large properties accu- 
mulated by them all were, like those of William Fitz- 
hugh, Robert Beverley, and the elder Nathaniel Bacon, 
the result of extraordinary foresight and prudence, but 
a prudence and foresight which had something more than 
a mere determination to win success to start with. A 
marked proportion of these families, as we have seen, 
were sprung directly from merchants who were not 
likely to allow their sons to go out to Virginia in the 
condition of penniless adventurers. 

1 Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth 
Century. Vols II., pp. 240-247. Many other instances might be 
given. 



102 The Social Life of Virginia 

Virginia was a promising community for persons with- 
out capital, who were ready to earn a subsistence by 
working with their bare hands, but not for persons with- 
out any capital who were seeking to make their way with 
their wits alone. 

Apart from the few individuals engaged in the pro- 
fessions, there were, along economic lines, only two di- 
visions of the population, one of which was represented 
by the landowner, -and the other by the common laborer. 
The young Englishman reaching the Colony with some 
means of support, could at once secure an interest in the 
soil ; if, on the other hand, he arrived without such 
means, he was compelled to become at once an agricul- 
tural servant. Whilst the general conditions prevailing 
made possible the accumulation of large estates by com- 
bining trading and planting, the chances were not so ex- 
traordinary as to allow many men of the lowest social ori- 
gin to become rich by some stroke of fortune, or a succes- 
sion of strokes, and thus found families in the possession 
of every social advantage which the Colony offered. The 
only prominent figure in the social life of Virginia in the 
seventeenth century who is known to have passed his 
first years there under articles of indenture, resembling 
those of an ordinary laborer, was Adam Thoroughgood.j 
As his nearest relative in England, a brother, was a bar- 
onet, it is quite probable that, like a good many young 
Englishmen of that and a later day who established 
themselves in Virginia, his object in beginning in so 
humble a way, was to obtain a practical knowledge of 
planting tobacco; and that he was in the possession of 
pecuniary resources with which to make the most of this 
knowledge as soon as it was obtained. 

It was a conspicuous feature of the social life of Vir- 
ginia during the seventeenth century, that, like the po- 



in the Seventeenth Century. 103 

litical system, it was thoroughly organized from the be- 
ginning. There was no period in the history of that 
social life when it resembled the social life of a com- 
munity situated on our extreme western frontier, where 
all social distinctions are merged in a rude social equality. 
From the hour when the voyagers disembarked at James- 
town in May, 1607, all those social divisions which had 
existed immemorially in England, took root in the soil 
of the new country ; the line of social separation between 
the gentleman ami the common laborer was even sharper 
than that between the military officer and the ordinary 
soldier, or between the civilian officer and the private 
citizen. Not even in the interval of terrible want and 
sickness following, during the first summer after the ar- 
rival of the earliest expedition, were these social divisions 
forgotten, simply because, under the influence of in- 
herited feeling and habit, and by the force of actual law, 
all Englishmen recognized and acted upon differences in 
social rank. 

When we picture to ourselves the vast wilderness 
which formed the background of Jamestown in 1610, a 
wilderness of forest tenanted only by wild beasts and 
painted Indians, there seems an element of ludicrous in- 
congruity in the pomp and ceremony which De la Warr 
adopted on every public occasion, and in the rigid eti- 
quette which he, as nobleman and governor, required to 
be observed in relation to himself. An impression is made 
that he was extraordinarily solemn and formal by nature, 
but this impression, which was undoubtedly true in a 
measure, did not represent all the influences directing 
his action. De la Warr had come out to Virginia as a 
great nobleman, as an almost absolute governor and cap- 
tain-general, and finally as the trusted representative of 
that powerful company of peers, knights, and gentlemen 



104 The Social Life of Virginia 

who had obtained the new charter of 1609. Virginia was 
not a colony composed of a single village and a few small 
plantations ; it was a great province of England, a wilder- 
ness, as yet, it is true, but a wilderness that was certain, 
in time, to become wealthy and thickly inhabited. In 
exalting the authority of office so characteristic of those 
times, the disposition of De la Warr was to consider 
simply the dignity of his position, however nominal that 
dignity really was in the light of the handful of settlers 
huddled together in misery at Jamestown. And in adopt- 
ing so much ceremonial in that little community, he was 
only doing what any other great English noble, appointed 
governor and captain-general of a part of the kingdom, 
whether populous like Scotland and Ireland, or with only 
a few white people like Virginia, would have done. 

The spirit which governed De la Warr officially and 
personally was the spirit which, in a modified way, per- 
vaded the entire social life of Virginia throughout the 
seventeenth century. The community, from a social 
point of vie**^ was as if some shire of England, with its 
whole population, had been moved bodily over sea. In 
no sense was it a community which, in its social frame- 
work, had grown along lines entirely peculiar to itself. 
Every Englishman who, in those early times, went out 
to the Colony, carried over the unconscious tenacity of 
De la Warr in claiming every form of social considera- 
tion to which he had been entitled in England itself. 
There was not the smallest desire to leave the old privi- 
leges and customs behind. Virginia was not looked upon 
as a new country; it was simply an outlying possession, 
like the islands of Jersey and Guernsey ; and there was no 
more reason why the emigrant, in going thither, should 
abandon all those opinions as to the proper constitution of 
society, which he had inherited, than if he were about to 



in the Seventeenth Century. 105 

make a visit to Devon or Hampshire, where marked 
gradations in social position had been recognized for over 
a thousand years. He would find no great noblemen 
there, it is true, but this would be the result, not of the 
framework of its society, but of the remoteness of the 
Colony from England, and its comparatively limited de- 
gree of economic development as yet. 

The other proofs of social distinctions and divisions 
would be as conspicuous to the emigrant on his arrival 
in Virginia as they had 1 been to him in England itself. 
For instance, one of the most ordinary social badges in 
use was the coat-of-arms. One distinguished student of 
Virginian genealogy in the seventeenth century has de- 
clared that, after a long course of investigation, he is 
unaware of a single person whose name in deeds is fol- 
lowed by the term "gentleman." who was not entitled to 
use a coat-of-arms. This would fulfill the definition of a 
"gentleman" given by Sir Edward Coke. 2 If this state- 
ment holds good for all who were so designated in public 
and private documents during this century, which, how- 
ever, is highly questionable, then the number of persons 
legally entitled to coats-of-arms was as great in Virginia, 
in proportion to population, as it was in England. In 
three counties alone, namely, Essex, Lancaster, and Mid- 
dlesex, the records of which for the century have been 
very much cut down by different vicissitudes, there were 
at least forty-seven families which regularly made use of 
coats-of-arms. 3 

There is no reason to think that armorial bearings were 
as freely and loosely assumed in those early times as they 

"Lyon G. Tyler in William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., 
p. 112. 

5 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., p. 167. 



106 The Social Life of Virginia 

are so often now, under Republican institutions ; such 
bearings were then a right of property, as clearly defined 
as any other, and continue to be in modern England, 
what they were in colonial Virginia. In the seventeenth 
century, when so large a proportion of the persons oc- 
cupying the highest position in the society of the Colony 
were natives of England, the unwarranted assumption of 
a coat-of-arms would probably have been as soon noticed, 
and perhaps as quickly resented, as in England itself. The 
prominent families in Virginia were as well acquainted 
with the social antecedents of each other in the Mother 
Country as families of the same rank in England were 
with the social antecedents of the leading families in the 
surrounding shires ; they were, therefore, thoroughly 
competent to pass upon a claim of this nature; and the 
fact that they were, must have had a distinct influence in 
preventing a false claim from being put forward. In a 
general way, it may be said that it was quite as natural 
for Virginians of those times to be as slow and careful 
as contemporary Englishmen in advancing a claim of 
this kind without a legal right on which to base it, and, 
therefore, when they did advance it, that it was likely to 
stand the test of examination by the numerous persons in 
the Colony who must have been familiar with English 
coats-of-arms in general. 

Before leaving England, some of the emigrants took 
care to have their coats-of-arms confirmed ; for instance, 
in 1633, Moore Fauntleroy obtained such a confirmation 
from the Office of the English Heralds, who, in their re- 
port, declared that this coat-of-arms had been enjoyed by 
the Fauntleroys "time out of mind." 4 Among the promi- 
nent families who are thought to have possessed a legal 

4 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. I., p. 224. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 107 

right to the coats-of-arms which they habitually used, 
were the Bacon, Berkeley, Bland, Byrd, Boiling, Bever- 
ley, Bennett, Burwell, Claiborne, Cary, Cole, Cocke, Clay- 
ton, Digges, Farrer, Fitzhugh, Kingsmill, Lee, Lud- 
well, Ludlow, Milner, Page, Parke, Robinson, Randolph, 
Spencer, Thoroughgood, Throckmorton, Thurston, 
Tucker, of Lower Norfolk county, Willoughby, Wood- 
house, Washington, Booth, Batte, Chichely, Colthorpe, 
Fleet, Jennings, Lunsford, Peyton, West, and Wyatt. 
The English ancestry of most of the founders of these 
conspicuous families was as well known in the seven- 
teenth century as the ancestry of an equal number of per- 
sons belonging to the English gentry of that day. They 
could follow their genealogical descent with a like pre- 
cision and accuracy ; in using coats-of-arms in Virginia, 
they were simply doing what their fathers had done be- 
fore them in England, and what they themselves had 
done previous to their own emigration ; and it appeared 
to them as much a matter of course to use such coats-of- 
arms in the Colony as it would have been had they never 
left their native Devon or Sussex, Staffordshire or Lin- 
colnshire. 

The possession of coats-of-arms by the leading Vir- 
ginian families in the seventeenth century is disclosed 
in various incidental ways. Insignia of this kind are fre- 
quently included among the personal property appraised 
in inventories. 8 And they were also stamped on pieces of 

•'William and Mary College Quart., Vol. I., ]>. 120. The origi- 
nal spelling of 1 lie Farrar name was Ferrer. Nol long after the 

family settled in Virginia "a" seeme to have l n substituted for 

"e" in the spelling of the name, probably a- more in harmony 
with its pronunciation, 

"For an instance gee inventory of Philip Felgate, Lower Nor- 
folk County Records, Vol. 1646-1651, p. 47. 



108 The Social Life of Virginia 

fine silver plate. In a letter to George Mason, of Bristol, 
Fitzhugh requests him to invest eighty-five pounds ster- 
ling, lying in his hands to the writer's credit, in silver 
dishes, candlesticks, and the like, but to be careful to 
work no arms on them, as this could be done in Virginia 
by a servant under indentures to Fitzhugh, whom he de- 
clared to be "a singularly good engraver." 7 This is one 
of the numerous instances which shows that this pros- 
perous planter and lawyer always maintained a thrifty 
and economical mind, even when there was a large sum 
at his command. The purchase of large quantities of sil- 
ver plate, not for household display, but as a means of 
making a safe investment, was one of the commonest acts 
of wealthy Virginians in those early times, but, in the 
ordinary course, the engraving was done in England 
before the plate was shipped away to the Colony, because 
it was not likely that any person acquainted with so diffi- 
cult an art could be found there. 

The custom of carving coats-of-arms on tombs was as 
general in Virginia as in the Mother Country itself. If 
the person buried underneath was a woman who, during 
her life, had been married, the coat-of-arms of husband 
or father was used indifferently; for instance, on the 
tomb of Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon, the elder, who was a 
daughter of Richard Kingsmill, the Kingsmill's coat-of- 
arms is chiseled, whilst the ^coat-of-arms cut into the 
tombstone of a Miss Bassett, who inter-married with the 
Allans, of Claremont, is that of her husband's family. 8 

7 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 21, 1698. Richard Lee 
also had his coat-of-arms engraved on his silver plate. 

8 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., pp. 49, 211. The 
Allan arms were the same as those of the Allan family of Derby- 
shire atid Staffordshire. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 109 

These elaborate grave-stones, which are the counterparts 
of so many belonging to the same period still found in- 
tact in the English parish church-yards, were probably, 
without exception, procured from England, as the coats- 
of-arms are, as a rule, sculptured with a skilful pre- 
cision and a justness of proportion which could have been 
shown by trained workmen alone. It was not an uncom- 
mon provision in wills that the testator's coat-of-arms 
should be stamped in brass on his tombstone; for ex- 
ample, in 1674, Colonel Richard Cole gave directions that 
a slab of black marble, bearing his coat-of-arms, en- 
graved in this metal, should, after his death, be purchased 
in England, brought over, and laid on the spot where he 
desired his body to be buried. 9 

Owing to the custom prevailing among prominent 
families in these early, as in later, times of burying their 
dead in the garden near the dwelling house, many of 
these costly gravestones, with their elaborate carvings of 
armorial bearings, have alone remained to mark the site 
where a colonial home once stood. The vicissitudes of 
time have destroyed the residence and dispersed the 
family, but the tombstone, as compact as ever, continues 
to point silently to an era when the social laws and habits 
of England, inherited from a remote past, but destined 
in Virginia to perish under new institutions, followed 
men in the Colony even when consigned to the dust. It 
is not uncommon, even at the present day, to find these 
ancient tombstones, with their facings blackened by storm 
and sunshine, but still legible, standing in an open field 
or meadow of Eastern Virginia. 10 Sometimes, the name 

'Westmoreland County Record-;. Vol. 1665-77, folio, p. 186. 

"Such is the situation of the Moseley tombs, in Prino 
county, which, however, are -till surrounded by a crumbling brick 
wall. The remain- of the STeardley tombs arc hardy perceptible 
in the grounds of the Nottingham home in Northampton county. 



no The Social Life of Virginia 

on one of these stones has sunk into such obscurity as to 
have no interest even for the most learned genealogist. 
For instance, on what is known as the Church Pastures 
Farm, a part of the Brandon estate, on Lower James # 
River, there is still to be observed the isolated grave-slab, 
stamped with armorial bearings, which informs us that a 
certain person, "gentleman," was born in London in 1649, 
and died in Virginia in 1700. 11 There was, perhaps, no 
other record in the Colony that such a man ever existed. 
He represented a case that, no doubt, occurred very fre- 
quently in the seventeenth century ; that is to say, an 
Englishman of good family emigrated to Virginia, lived 
and died there childless, and his very name was soon 
lost even to tradition. If preserved at all, it was pre- 
served, like the name of this person, on the fragment of 
his tombstone, tossed about a field, and trodden upon by 
wandering cattle. 

There was the clearest recognition of class distinctions 
in every department of Virginian life during the seven- 
teenth century, a fact brought out in numerous ways by 
the silent testimony of the different legal documents 
which have survived to the present day, after passing 
through all the vicissitudes of war and revolution. The 
colonial custom, following the immemorial English, was 
in such documents, to fix by terms, whose legal meaning 
was fully understood, the social position of the principal 
persons mentioned therein. The total omission of a term 
after a name was as significant in one way as the inser- 
tion of a term was in another. There were certain parti- 
cular designations to show calling which were applied 
generally without social discrimination. In one instance 
alone, perhaps, did such a designation carry a distinct 
inference of social importance without, however, nicely 

11 Va. Maga'. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 211. 



in the Seventeenth Century. hi 

defining its degree ; the word "planter" probably at a late 
period conveyed such a meaning. Not long after the 
abolition of the company, we find the term "planter" ap- 
plied to the lessees whose names appear in the grants of 
land belonging to the office of governor. The area con- 
tained in these grants was not extensive, and the lessees 
were men of no social consequence. 12 Not many years 
later, the term "planter" was applied with great freedom, 
whether the patentee acquired title in a large tract or in a 
small ; whether he was a citizen of marked prominence in 
the Colony, or possessed no prominence at all. But, by 
1675, we find) m tne ordinary conveyances, recorded in 
the county courts, an indifferent use by the same man, 
as applicable to himself, of the terms "gentleman" and 
"planter," as if the two were practically interchangeable. 
At this time, the estates, in many cases, spread over many 
thousand acres, and whilst all who owned and cultivated 
land of their own, whether great or small in area, were, 
in a strict sense planters, the term may have come to 
have a subordinate social meaning as applicable to men 
of large estates, whose social position by force of birth, 
as well as of worldly possessions, was among the fore- 
most in the community. Or it may be, which seems, on 
the whole, more probable, the person drawing up one of 
these deeds designated himself there as "gentleman" if 
he happened at the moment to think of his social rank, 
or as "planter" if he thought of his calling. 13 

12 See Va. Land Patents, 1G25-30. 

"John Goode, of Henrico county, in some of the deeds in 
which his name appears describes himself as "gentleman"; in 
others, as "planter. 1 See Henrico County Records, Vol. 1G77-!"-, 
orig., pp. 189-90. The following would seem to show that the 
term "planter" designated simply the calling without social sig- 
nificance: "Know all men by these Presents that wee, Walter 



ii2 The Social Life of Virginia 

Sometimes, in one deed, a grantor will designate him- 
self as "gentleman;" in a second, as "planter;" and in a 
third, as "merchant." The last two terms defined the 
pursuits in which he was engaged; the first, his social 
position. In describing himself as "merchant" or "plan- 
ter" in a formal conveyance, such a person may have had 
in mind the fact that, by the use of such terms, he made 
the more clear the exact identification of the grantor, and 
thus diminished the chance of confusion with some one 
else, who might bear the same name. 

The calling or social rank of the grantee in a deed was 
stated with the same particularity as that of the grantor. 
One example of this fact, among many which might 
be brought forward, will be found in an agreement, 
which, about 1679, was entered into by Robert Bowman 
and Richard Kennon, of Henrico county ; Bowman is 
designated as "planter" and Kennon as "merchant;" 
whilst in a second deed recorded in the same county, both 
Martin Elam and John Bowman described themselves as 
"planters." 14 

The men who followed a mechanical trade were as 
careful as the planters to apply to themselves in legal 
documents the terms used for their special pursuits, such 
as "carpenter," "cooper," "tailor," and the like, some of 
which callings enjoyed in the Colony the same measure of 
social consideration as that attached to them in England. 
Not infrequently a person will designate himself as "gen- 
tleman" in one deed, and "cooper" or "carpenter" in 
another. This, for instance, seems to have been the habit 

Jones, Chirurgeon, William Wilson, gent., Richard Street, plant- 
er," etc. Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 285, 
Va. St. Libr. 

"Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 83-84. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 113 

with George Wyatt, the son of Rev. Hawte Wyatt, and 
the nephew of Governor Wyatt, a man, who, by birth and 
social connections, belonged to the highest social rank in 
the Colony. 15 . Major William Barber, under whose su- 
pervision the capitol at Williamsburg was built, described 
himself in some deeds as "cooper ;" in others as "carpen- 
ter." He was a church warden, justice of the county 
court, a member of the House of Burgesses, and had 
married the daughter of Henry Cary, whose name in 
legal documents was always coupled with the term "gen- 
tleman," a term to which he was entitled as a member 
of a family well known to be of gentle descent. 10 It was, 
no doubt, equally applicable to Barber also. In those 
early times, the word "carpenter" expressed more than it 
does at the present day; it signified not only one who 
worked in wood with his hands, but also a builder, archi- 
tect, and contractor, and it was not improbable that it 
was used, in this broader sense, in connection with Barber 
himself. And in the same way, the word "cooper" had a 
wider meaning than it now conveys. 

"I was born a gentleman," exclaimed Cromwell on one 
occasion in addressing Parliament, "and in the old social 
arrangement of a nobleman, a gentleman and a yeoman, 
I see a good interest of the nation and a great one." 17 
Nobleman, gentleman, yeoman — these were the terms 
which carried a clear and precise social significance 
wherever Englishmen had established a community. 

"See Va. Land Patents for 1642 for patent in which Wyatt 
designated himself as "cooper"; William and Mary College Quart., 
Vol. X., p. GO. 

" William and Mary College Quart., Vol. V., p. 195. 

17 Green's Short History of the English People, chapt. viii., 
Sect. 10 



H4 The Social Life of Virginia 

There was no order of noblemen in Virginia in the seven- 
teenth century, but there was, to use the Protector's lan- 
guage, a "social arrangement" of gentlemen and yeo- 
men. 18 The term "yeoman" appears with special fre- 
quency in the early land patents, and it was used to ex- 
press exactly the same rank as the like term inserted in 
a contemporary legal document in the Mother Country. 
The fact that it was not freely used, is an evidence that, 
when employed at all, it was employed with discrimina- 
tion. There were only about fifteen persons so desig- 
nated in the early land patents ; these were William Spen- 
cer, Gabriel Holland, Thomas Sully, John and Edward 
Johnson, John and Robert Salford, Thomas Godby, John 
Taylor, John Powell, Alexander Mountney, Elizabeth 
Dimthorne, William Lamsden, Thomas Bouldin, John 
Sibsey, and Adam Dixon. None of these names, with the 
exception of Sibsey, became prominent in the social his- 
tory of the Colony. The term "yeoman" is used very 
often in the county records long after the names of these 
early settlers were entered in the land patents. In 1646, 
John Sawies, of Surry county, so described himself in a 
deed; so did James Pope, of Westmoreland county, in 
1660; and Robert Beverley ,of King and Queen county, 
about 1694. 19 Numerous other instances of a like charac- 

18 Maeaulay estimated that the yeoman class of England in the 
seventeenth century embraced one-seventh of the whole popula- 
tion, and that the average income of each head of a family be- 
longing to this class ranged from sixty to seventy pounds sterl- 
ing; see History, chapt. iii. 

"Surry County Kecords, Vol. 1645-72, p. 37, Va. St. Libr.; 
Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1653-72, p. 122; Essex 
County Records, Vol. 1692-95, p. 174, Va. St. Libr. The Beverleys 
were probably originally small land-owners in Yorkshire, and 
were as such perhaps designated as yeomen. It seems remarkable, 



in the Seventeenth Century. 115 

ter might be given ; and they continued to occur through- 
out the colonial period. 20 Originally, "yeoman" meant 
simply a small landowner, and his social position in the 
community lay between that of the gentleman and that of 
the common laborer. Both Pope and Beverley were in 
possession of large tracts of land, and both represented 
families of prominence. 

In conversation, the term "mister" was, no doubt, ap- 
plied to both gentlemen and yeomen, but when it appears 
in legal documents as a prefix to a name, it signifies that 
the person so designated was entitled to a higher degree 
of social consideration than was enjoyed by a mere yeo- 
man ; the term seems, in fact, to have been reserved in 
those early times in all forms of written and printed mat- 
ter, such as records and books, for persons whose claim 
to be gentlemen in the broad social sense, was admitted 
by all. In some cases, the term appeared to carry so 
much dignity that it could only be used properly of one 
who filled a high political office ; for example, in the 
list of gentlemen who accompanied the expedition to Vir- 
ginia in 1607, the first to go over, Edward Maria Wing- 
field, the President of the Council, and as such the Gov- 
ernor of the new Colony, was the only one whose name 
was preceded by the word "mister." 21 

however, that such a term should have been retained by the 
younger Robert Beverley, one of the largest land-owners in the 
colony. Its retention was perhaps due to mere whim, "after the 
order of the use," as Mr. W. G. Stanard has pointed out, "of only 
wooden stools at Beverley's house, Beverley Park, in King and 
Queen county; this, too, at a time when the houses of much 
poorer men were full of handsome chairs." 

20 Edward Wilson James in the Lower Norfolk Antiquary (No. 
I., Part 1, p. 45) gives an instance from the records of 1728: 
"Thomas Law on, gentleman, to Nat. Hutchings, yeoman," etc. 

21 Works of Capt. John Smith, Vol. I., p. 163, Richmond edition. 



n6 The Social Life of Virginia 

A similar designation accompanies the names of many 
of the grantees appearing in the early land patents ; 
among these names were those of planters, who, like 
Thomas Eaton, Adam Thoroughgood, George Menifie, 
Nathaniel Hooke, and Jeremiah Clement, were men of 
recognized prominence in the community. Whalley, one 
of the most active lieutenants of Nathaniel Bacon, the 
younger, in the Insurrection of 1676, is always honored 
in the narratives of that uprising by the title of "mister," 
which was either a proof of his high social position, or a 
tribute to the conspicuous part played by him in the 
course of the tumult. 22 

Sometimes in the same document a man is designated 
first by the term "mister," and then by the term "gentle- 
man ;" for instance, in the land patents, Adam Thorough- 
good is found very often entered in grants as "Mr. Adam 
Thoroughgood, gentleman." The same joint use of the 
two words is observed in the county records ; by a deed 
preserved in Elizabeth City county, Thomas Tench, of 
Maryland, conveyed property to "Mr. William Mallory, 
gentleman," who was an inhabitant of Virginia; 23 and a 
similar use of "mister" and "gentleman" occurs in deeds 
passing between Thomas Wythe and Edmund Swaney, 
who were justices of the Elizabeth City county court; 
it is possible that the high position which this fact gave 
them in the community, apart from birth and fortune, en- 
titled them to the right to be so elaborately designated in 
a legal document. The use of the term "mister" is ob- 
served most constantly in the lists of the county tax 
levies ; in these lists, the word "gentleman" does not ap- 

22 William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 3. 

23 Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, pp. 208, 222, 
246, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 117 

pear, whilst the word "mister" is employed wherever the 
person whose name is mentioned could lay claim to any 
special social consideration. When the name entered 
was that of a man who belonged to a social grade below 
that of gentleman, it is not accompanied by a designa- 
tion of any kind. 24 

Whenever the term "gentleman" appears in the records 
of the seventeenth century attached to a name, it was 
intended to convey a meaning that had been defined with 
legal precision. It was a term that was never used loose- 
ly, lightly, or indiscriminately in those times, even in 
papers without legal importance or significance; in legal 
documents, such as the patents and county records, it 
was applied as nicely and advisedly as if this had been 
required by a decision of the highest court in the king- 
dom. Indeed, its use was regulated by social customs, 
which, among Englishmen and the descendants of Eng- 
lishmen, had all the force of a legal judgment. No one 
could assume the right to couple the term with his name 
in a legal document unless his claim was too generally 
recognized to be disputed. According to the great law- 
yer, Coke, it was an error to designate a man as a "gen- 
tleman" (when the question was one of mere social rank) 
unless he possessed the undeniable privilege of bearing 
arms. Whilst it seems improbable that the use of the 
term in the Colony was strictly confined to those who had 
the right to do this, however large the number might 
have been, nevertheless, it is plain that its use did not 
extend beyond those who, either by birth or fortune, oc- 
cupied a position of influence in the social life of the com- 

u A good example of a county levy from the point of view re- 
ferred to in the text will be found in the levy for 169G in the 
Henrico County Records for that year. 



n8 The Social Life of Virginia 

munity. In the early patents, the term "gentleman" ap- 
pears as an affix only to the names of such grantees as 
filled the most important place in the Colony; among 
these names are those of Yeardley, 25 Croshaw, Sandys, 
Waters, Burnham, Hamor, Utie, Maurice Thompson, 
Spelman, Claiborne, Cheeseman, Willoughby, Felgate, 
Harwood, Tucker, Alington, Poole, Saunders, and Arun- 
dell. Wherever the term is observed in the county 
records, it is found attached to the names of persons 
whose social position is known to have been high. Many 
of the most prominent citizens never failed in ordinary 
conveyances to designate themselves in this manner. A 
father transfers an estate to a son ; son and father each 
is referred to as "gentleman;" such was the case in a 
deed which, in 1637, passed between Hugh and William 
Bullock ; 26 and other examples might be brought forward. 
Occasionally, there would be placed on record a deed, in 
which a half dozen men would be designated as "gentle- 
men," and one as "good-man," a term which indicated 
that this person alone of the entire company filled a sub- 
ordinate place in the society of the community. 27 

25 "Mr. Charlton told this depont., saying: 'John, I doubt you 
are entict away by Mr. Yeardley,' to whome this depont replied, 
saying: 'Mr. Charlton, you doe Mr. Yeardley much wrong, for hee 
is a gentleman whom I did never see in my life.' "; Northampton 
County Orders Jan'y 3, 1642. The Yeardley here referred to was 
probably Argoll Yeardley, a son of Governor Yeardley. This de- 
position shows the particular use of the word "gentleman" in 
ordinary conversation. Edward Wilson James has an interesting 
note on the general use of the word in England in early times ; see 
Lower Norfolk County Antiquary, Vol. I., p. 100. 

26 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 414. 

27 See power of attorney in Northampton County Kecords 
Orders Feb'y 10, 1644-5. The "goodman" in this case may have 



in the Seventeenth Century. 119 

It was not simply in ordinary conveyances that the 
term "gentleman" was employed with great particularity ; 
in such conveyances, a man, if so inclined, could press 
his claim to such a designation somewhat beyond what he 
was fully justified in doing; but in formal orders of court, 
no such latitude would be likely to show itself. In no 
legal records does the term appear more often than in or- 
ders of this kind, and nowhere is it used with greater 
precision. In the seventeenth century, all the work of a 
public character was done by the foremost men in the 
community; whether it was to choose the site of a new 
town, or to pass on a new bridge, the county court almost 
invariably selected the commissioners from among the 
wealthiest and most prominent citizens. In naming these 
officers in the order appointing them, the court never 
failed to designate them as "gentlemen," unless it hap- 
pened, which was quite rare, that they were unable to 
claim this distinction. 28 The term "gentleman" seems to 
have been the only one generally used in public docu- 

been some one from New England. It was a term which was in 
general use only in the Northern Colonies, having, however, been 
brought from England. The following is from the Elizabeth City 
County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 2S3, Va. St. Libr. : "Know all 
men by these presents yt we Pascho Curie, gent., Thomas Curie, 
gent., and Coleman Brough, gent., all of ye aforesaid county, 
gents. - ' 

28 See Middlesex County Records, orders Jan'y 5, 1686, for an 
instance of the use of the term "gentleman" in a court order. 
"• Stephen Cocke having moved this court to assigne certain gent, 
of this Countye to meet such as shall bee appointed by the Court 
of Charles Citye Countye to view and receive the bridge over 
Turkeye [aland Creeke, it is ordered that Capt. William Randolph 
and Captain Fra. Eppes doe meete these gent, as shall be ap- 
pointed by Charles citye Countye." This is from the Henrico 
County Records Orders June 1, 1697. 



120 The Social Life of Virginia 

ments in connection with the names of members of the 
House of Burgesses; 29 and this was also true of the 
names of the justices of the different county courts. It 
is only occasionally that the names of the latter public 
officers in the various records bear the prefix of "mister," 
which, as we have seen, was ordinarily the synonym of 
the word "gentleman." 30 The expression "gentlemen, 
justices" as referring to the judges of the county courts, 
occurs with great frequency. 31 

A military title was considered to be so honorable that 
it was not thought necessary, as a rule, to follow a namf, 
to which such a title was prefixed, with an additional 
term of distinction ; for instance, in an order of court, 
bearing the date of 1697, William Randolph and Francis 
Eppes, of Henrico county, two of the most prominent 
citizens of the Colony, from a social, as well as from a po- 
litical point of view, were designated simply as "cap- 
tains," the military title they bore as officers in the 
militia ; 32 but in numerous other instances of military of- 
ficers, who were also conspicuous members of the society 
of the community, the name is as regularly followed by 
the term "gentleman" as it is preceded by the military 
title itself. For example, Thomas Willoughby, a leading 
resident of Lower Norfolk county, is in the records of 
that county almost invariably referred to as "Lieutenant 
Thomas Willoughby, gentleman ;" and the same use of 
the double designation is observed in the text of many of 
the early land patents; for instance, it was generally 

29 Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 203, 1632-3. 

30 Acconiac County Records for the years 1632-40. 

31 See, for an instance, Henrico County Records, orders April 
10, 1696. 

33 Henrico County Records, orders, June 1, 1697. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 121 

"Captain Robert Fclgate, gentleman," and "Captain 
Raleigh Croshaw, gentleman," instead of the one or the 
other designation omitted. 

The term "esquire" was the most honorable and re- 
spectful in its personal application which was in use in 
Virginia ; and from many points of view, it carried all the 
distinction of an English title. In England, the term was 
employed to designate either the son of a knight, or one 
who filled an office of universally recognized responsi- 
bility and prominence ; in Virginia, on the other hand, 
its proper application seems to have been confined to the 
members of the Council, who, as members also of the 
Upper House of the General Assembly, held a position, 
which, in its social dignity, as well as in its relation to 
legislation, corresponded to that of a member of the Eng- 
lish House of Lords. The office of Governor alone was 
superior to that of a member of this Upper House ; and 
when to the importance thus derived, there was added 
the importance derived from being also a member of the 
Governor's advisory board, it can be easily seen that a 
Councillor was relatively as great a personage in the 
Colony as a leading nobleman was in England. 

The Councillor was really chosen a member of the 
Board simply because he was a man of large estate and 
great personal influence in the community. Invested 
with this new dignity and authority, and obtaining by the 
office extraordinary opportunities of further enriching 
himself, he secured a hold upon the consideration of the 
Virginian population of all classes which few noblemen 
in England enjoyed beyond the boundaries of their own 
properties, and the circle of their own dependants. The 
name of one of these Councillors is never found entered 
in even the obscurest of the county records without the 
affix of "esquire;" this always displaces the term "gen- 



122 The Social Life of Virginia 

tleman ;" and in some cases, seemed to cause the omission 
of the military titles, which are generally entered so un- 
failingly. The name of William Byrd, the elder, is in- 
variably coupled with the term "esquire," whilst it is 
frequently recorded without the military title of "colo- 
nel," which he bore. 33 In the early land patents, how- 
ever, the military title also is usually inserted; for in- 
stance, we find Roger Smith, Ralph Hamor, and Henry 
Browne, all members of the Council and the Upper 
House of Assembly, designated each as both "Captain" 
and "Esquire." 34 George Menifie, who, in the early pat- 
ents, is described as "merchant," in the later, when he has 
become a member of the Council, always appears as 
"Mr. George Menefie, Esquire." 

After 1634, when the number of patents for each year 
shows a remarkable increase, the designation of the pat- 
entees of the public lands as "gentlemen," "yeomen," 
and the like, is discontinued, but the term "esquire" is 
used as often as ever in these public grants. It is found 
in all of the county records, 35 orders of Council, and Acts 
of Assembly, and was invariably employed by the Coun- 
cillors themselves in their private legal papers, such as 
ordinary conveyances and affidavits. In a document of 
the latter nature, which Colonel Richard Lee signed at 
Gravesend in 1655, ne described himself as "Colonel 
Richard Lee, of Virginia, in the partes beyond the seas, 

33 "An agreement between William Byrd, Esquire, and Richard 
Kennon, gentleman," etc., Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, 
orig., p. 156; see, also, orig., p. 415. 

34 Va. Land Patents for 1634. 

85 An instance: "Philip Taylor doth owe and stand indebted 
unto Nathaniel Littleton, Esq." See Northampton County Records, 
Orders, Aug. 31, 1643; May 2S, 1644. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 123 

Esquire;" 3 ' 5 and it was also in the same words that he 
referred to himself in his will. 37 By the year 1678, the 
term, in its unabbreviated form, had come into common 
use in conversation as a way of alluding to a Councillor ; 
for instance, we find Rowland Place spoken of as "Es- 
quire Place" in the testimony which a witness, about this 
date, gave in the Henrico county court. 38 Whiting, an- 
other Councillor, is designated as "Esquire Whiting" in 
the testimony of a second witness who appeared in the 
county court of Rappannock. 30 Ralph Wormeley is al- 
ways so referred to. 40 The records show that the Col- 
lectors of Customs and the Naval Officers also received 
the title of "Esquire," but this honor was conferred the 
more readily because these positions were almost invari- 
ably filled by the members of the Council. 41 

The term "Honorable" seems to have been applied only 
to a person holding a great office, which was never filled 
by more than a single incumbent, such as that of Gover- 
nor, Secretary, Auditor, or Treasurer. The wife of one 
of these officials was generally designated as "Madam ;" 
it was by this title that the wives of Nicholas Spencer, 
the Secretary of the Colony, and of William Byrd, the 

30 British Colonial Papers, Vol. XII., 1G53-G. No. 51. 

87 Lee of Virginia, p. Gl. The will was drawn in England. 

88 Henrico County Minute Book 1682-1701, p. G, Va. St. Libr. 

89 Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1682-92, p. 73, Va. St. 
Libr. 

40 "To Mr. George Parks for trouble in conveying Esqr. Worme- 
lpys negro over the river." Essex County Records, Orders, Nov. 
12, 1692. 

41 Peter Heyma'n, who was Collector for Lower James River, 
was always designated as "Esquire,'' although he does not appear 
to have been a member of the Council. See Elizabeth City County 
Records, orders, Aug. 22, Sept. 20, 1699. 



124 The Social Life of Virginia 

Auditor, were known ; there are frequent references to 
"Madam Spencer" and "Madam Byrd" in the records. 
The wife of another Secretary of the Colony seems to 
have been addressed as "Madam Elizabeth Wormeley." 42 
The title, however, was not restricted to the wives of such 
officials ; for example, we find that the wife of Robert Dud- 
ley, a prominent citizen of Middlesex county, who had 
never filled any of these high positions, was always re- 
ferred to as "Madam Dudley," a tribute very probably to 
her extraordinary force of character, her beauty of per- 
son, and charm of manner. 43 

43 See for Madam Spencer, Westmoreland County Eecords, Vol. 
1665-77, folio p. 79; for Madam Byrd, Henrico County Records, 
Vol. 1688-97, p. 148, Va. St. Libr.; and for Madam Wormeley, 
Middlesex County Eecords, orders, March 5, 1693. 

43 Middlesex County Records, Vol. 1694-1713, p. 100. 



VIII. 

Social Distinctions. — Continued. 

THE English law of primogeniture does not appear to 
have been in general operation in Virginia during 
the seventeenth century. The reasons for this fact are ob- 
vious. First, the estates of extraordinary value accumu- 
lated in Virginia in the course of the first one hundred 
years were comparatively few ; it followed that there 
were not many heads of families, who, owing to the pos- 
session of large wealth, felt disposed to aggrandize the 
family name further by concentrating in the hands of the 
eldest son almost the entire family fortune. In the next 
century, when sufficient time had elapsed to allow a 
notable increase in the number of great estates, there was 
a more marked inclination to leave the family property to 
one son, though it is quite improbable that the law of 
primogeniture was ever in as general acceptance in Vir- 
ginia as it was in contemporary England. Secondly, 
there were no mechanical trades of the higher grade in 
the Colony during the seventeenth century to which 
younger sons in Virginia, as in the Mother Country, 
might turn when cut off in the division of their 
father's estate by the law of entail ; nor was there room 
for many in the local professions of law, medicine, and 
the church. There being no towns or cities as in England, 
the transactions in mercantile life were confined to a few 
general stores, and to casual dealing in tobacco and im- 
ported goods. It followed, from these different condi- 
tions, that, had a parent devised the great bulk of his 
property, which consisted, for the most part, of land, to 



126 The Social Life of Virginia 

the eldest son, it would have been impossible for him to 
make any special provision for the younger children by 
establishing them in a professional calling, or setting 
them up in business or in a trade, and they would have 
been forced, in consequence, to become common laborers. 
Thirdly, whilst social divisions prevailed in Virginia al- 
most to as marked degree as in England, the absence of a 
recognized legal nobility very naturally tended to dimin- 
ish the popularity of the law of primogeniture in the 
Colony by doing away with the necessity of supporting 
titles with ample fortune. 

It very frequently happened, however, that the eldest 
son was allowed, by the will of his father, to have the 
first voice in the division of the paternal estate; an in- 
stance of this occurred under the last testament of Peter 
Montague, who, emigrating from England, accumulated 
a large property in Virginia, but was only to this extent 
disposed to recognize the law of primogeniture. 1 Very 
often, a father bequeathed to the eldest son what was 
known as the "manor plantation." 2 Sometimes, however, 
the eldest son was entirely disinherited, no doubt for the 
same reasons as have influenced fathers in other countries 
and at other periods, to take so extreme a step. An in- 
stance of this kind was, in 1678, furnished by Thomas 
Ball, of Northampton county, who, cutting off his eldest 
son, divided a large estate among his younger children. 3 

The rule that prevailed almost universally in Virginia, 
during the seventeenth century, in the division of prop- 
erty by will, was followed by William Fitzhugh in dis- 

1 Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1654-1702, p. 62. 

2 Will of John Williams, Isle of Wight County Records for 
1691-2. 

8 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-79, p. 314. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 127 

tributing his estate at his death. Few men in the Colony 
were in possession of a larger fortune, and few had a 
greater temptation to advance the importance of their 
families after their decease by leaving practically every- 
thing they owned to their eldest sons. Instead of doing 
this, Fitzhugh seems to have apportioned both his real 
and his personal property quite equally between his five 
sons. The oldest appears to have been favored only to 
the extent of being made the residuary legatee of such 
lands as might remain undisposed of under the will ; but 
that these were not expected to have much value is 
proven by the equal division of the slaves among all the 
sons. A specific sum of eighty pounds sterling was also 
bequeathed to the eldest; and he seems to have had a 
slight preference shown him in the distribution of the 
family portraits, but none as between himself and the son 
next in age in the division of the books contained in their 
father's library. 4 

The elder William Byrd, on the other hand, disclosed 
in his will a plain determination to aggrandize his oldest 
child at the expense of the others, but this disposition was 
quite probably due to the fact that the eldest alone was 
a son, who alone could perpetuate a name only represent- 
ed in the Colony by this one family. 5 In a like spirit, 
carried even further, John Tiplady, of York county, in 
1688, bequeathed all his lands and tenements to his eldest 
son in ventris; his living children were daughters, for 
whom it is possible he may already have made provision. 6 

'Will of William Fitzhugh, Va. Maga. of Hist, and Hiop., Vol. 
II., p. 276. 

"Will of William Byrd, Byrd Deed Book, p. 114, Va. Hist. So. 
MSS. Coll. 

•York County Records, Vol. 1687-91, p. 345, Va. St. Libr. 



128 The Social Life of Virginia 

There were a few other cases, in which the testator 
showed a desire to follow the principle of the law of 
primogeniture; for instance, in 1685, John Daniel, of 
York county, devised apparently all his lands and houses 
to his eldest son, with the direction that, should this son 
die without heirs, the property was to pass to the second 
son; and if he, too, should die without heirs, then it 
should pass to the third and last ; and if the third should 
die without heirs, then the property should pass to the 
eldest daughter ; and in case of her death, also, without 
heirs, to the second and youngest daughter. The whole 
of the personal estate seems to have been divided between 
the wife and children, without regard to sex. 7 

There were cases in which the testator showed a dispo- 
sition to concentrate his landed property in the hands of 
the last survivor of his children, whether a son or daugh- 
ter; in the meanwhile, all were to share in the income, 
but the last one to die was alone to have the right to 
convey or bequeath the whole property in fee simple. 8 

When an owner of land died without leaving any testa- 
ment disposing of it, the whole of the real estate seems 
to have passed, by law, to the eldest son. Walter Bruce, 
of Nansemond county, drew up a will, in which he di- 
vided his plantations between his sons, but the instrument 
was lost, and, therefore, after his death, could not be 
offered for probate ; and in consequence of this fact, it 
had no legal force whatever. The eldest son, Abraham 

7 Will of Daniel, York County Records for 1685. 

8 The will of Richard Patrick of Northampton county made 
" his children or any one of them utterly incapable of selling or 
disposing of any part or parcill of their lands I have now left 
them by this will, and I doe will and ordaine that the longest 
livers shall inherit/'' Northampton County Records, Vol. 1670-79, 
p. 112. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 129 

Bruce, in a deed in which he seeks to carry out his 
father's wishes, declares that the lands which he conveys 
to his brother, John, had descended to him (Abraham) 
as his father's heir-at-law. Had there been no such gen- 
eral provision in operation, the plantations of Walter 
Bruce, even in the absence of a will, would have been 
divided equally among his sons without the necessity for 
a deed of gift resembling the one Abraham so generously 
made. 9 It is quite probable that, in most cases in which 
lands had come to be concentrated in the hands of the 
eldest son, it happened, as in the instance just given, by 
the loss of the will distributing these lands, or by the 
failure of the original owner to make a will at all. Such 
cases must, in the long run, have been of rare occurrence, 
and when they did take place, many eldest sons doubt- 
less acted upon the just impulse which guided Abraham 
Bruce. 

If there was little disposition during the seventeenth 
century to enhance the social importance of a family by 
concentrating the bulk of its property in the hands of 
the eldest son, there was a very strong desire to promote 
the distinction of the family by concentrating among its 
members as many public offices as private influence could 
secure. All that official dignity, fees, and perquisites 

* "Abraham Bruce, of Lower Norfolk County, eldest son and 
heir of Walter Bruce, late of Chuckatuck in the County of Nansi- 
mond, deceased, gives his brother John 600 acres of land on 
Boman's creek; the said 600 acres was by my father's Walter 
Bruce's will given to my said brother, John Bruce, but the said 
will, through the negligence of those that had it in keeping, is 
lost, and no record t.icreof to be found, so that the lands before 
recited doth honestly descend to me, the sd Abraham Bruce, as 
heir-at-law to my said deceased father." This deed is recorded 
May 16, 1689, or 1690, Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686- 
95, p. 123. 



130 The Social Life of Virginia 

could confer, were seized upon during this century to in- 
crease the general consideration, which the large land- 
owners already enjoyed in consequence of comfortable 
fortunes and prominent social connections. No office, 
provided that it carried a salary, was too insignificant to 
be coveted by the most conspicuous, and even by the 
wealthiest citizens. Coroner, appraiser of property, view- 
er, escheator, member of the vestry, sheriff, clerk, and 
justice of county court, member of the House of Bur- 
gesses, member of the Council — all could claim that, even 
apart from the importance of their official positions, they 
were the very first men in their community. Now, if a 
law had been adopted requiring that no person should 
hold more than one public office at a time, it is probable 
that the smaller of these offices would not have been eag- 
erly sought after by prominent citizens, simply because 
the salary attached to them was insignificant, and the 
dignity they imparted inconsiderable; but there was no 
restriction, certainly not for any great length of time, 
upon the number of offices which one person was allowed 
to occupy, and it followed that every influential citizen 
was disposed to catch in his dragnet as many offices, great 
or small, as he could. One small official position by itself 
amounted to little, but two small official poisitions, asso- 
ciated with a very important one, amounted to a great 
deal, if not in dignity, then in point of aggregate salary. 

In the interval between 1670 and 1691, every official 
position in Henrico county was occupied by a member of 
the Randolph, Cocke, or Farrer family. During the 
greater part of this time, the clerkship of the county court 
was filled by either William or Henry Randolph 10 The 

"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, pp. 39, 49, Va. St. 
Libr. Henry Randolph, one of the two Randolph emigrants, was 



in the Seventeenth Century. 131 

court which came together April 1, 1698, included in its 
body at least three members of the Cocke family, while 
a fourth member served as its clerk. In 1684, Thomas 
Cocke filled the office of high sheriff, and a few years 
later, leased the public ferry, at which time, he had a 
seat among the county justices. 11 Such official positions 
as escaped the grasp of the Farrers, Cockes, and Ran- 
dolphs were seized by members of the Eppes family. In 
1685, the office of sheriff was filled by Francis Eppes, and 
that of under-sheriff by Littlebury Eppes. An Eppes is 
almost constantly found among the county justices. And 
not satisfied with the purely civil and judicial offices, 
ranging from the coronership and escheatorship, to the 
membership of the House of Burgesses, these four fami- 
lies were able to acquire, by force of their social influ- 
ence and personal talents, the far larger proportion of the 
military offices of the county. A similar condition pre- 
vailed in all of the older counties of the Colony, where 
certain families had been seated long enough to establish 
a powerful social and political connection. This is an- 
other striking point of resemblance between Virginia 
and the Mother Country during the seventeenth century, 
namely, the overshadowing importance of one or two 
families in directing the affairs of each county, and their 
ability to retain this importance during a long series of 
years, without any general rivalry to diminish it. 

The officer who was able to concentrate a larger num- 
ber of official positions in his single person than any other 
individual whatever, was the member of the Governor's 
Council. Several of the positions which he combined in 

clerk of Benrico county in 1G50, and of the House of Burgesses in 
1G60-73; William and Mary College Quart., Vol. IV., p. 125. 
11 Henrico County Records Orders April 1, 169S. 



132 The Social Life of Virginia 

himself were the most lucrative of all in the Colony; he 
was not only a Councillor, an office of great weight and 
dignity, but also a member of the Upper House, a justice 
of the General or Supreme Court, commander or lieuten- 
ant of his county, naval officer, collector of the customs, 
farmer of the quitrents, and escheator. It is not strange 
that the Council should have been described as composed 
of the "most noted gentlemen" of Virginia. 12 As the 
most prominent families grew to be more and more close- 
ly connected with each other through intermarriage, the 
Council came to be more and more composed of persons 
who were near kinsmen of each other, until, by 1703, this 
had reached such a point that one family, the Burwells, 
through themselves and their blood relations, controlled 
the decisions of the Board. Spotswood bitterly com- 
plained that should a cause involving a Burwell come be- 
fore the General Court, a body identified in personality 
with the Council, seven of its members, owing to their 
kinship to that family, would have to retire from the de- 
liberation of the case. 13 

In every department of life in Virginia during the 
seventeenth century, we discover that determined feeling 
that the most formal respect shall be shown to persons 
occupying a position of authority, which is observed in 
every department of English life throughout the same 
period. The two local bodies most powerful in enforcing 

12 Governor Andros mentions that the following "noted gentle- 
men of this Country" were at Jamestown Oct. 20, 1698 : " William 
Randolph, Lewis Burwell, Philip Lightfoot, William Leigh, Gawin 
Corbin, Benjamin Harrison, Peter Beverley, Thomas Ballard, Miles 
Cary, John Taylor, William Buckner and George Marable"; most, 
if not all, of these prominent men, were members of the Council. 
See Minutes of Council, Oct. 20, 1698, B. T., Vol. Mil. 

"Letters of Governor Spotswood, Vol. I., p. 60. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 133 

this respect were the vestries and county courts. Vestry 
and county court alike were composed of the men who 
were, from both a social and a political point of view, the 
foremost in the community. How jealous they were in 
protecting the dignity of leading citizens is illustrated in 
numerous instances preserved in the county records. One 
may be given as an example. About 1685, Humphrey 
Chamberlaine, of Henrico county, a man of good birth, 
but of a very choleric temper, was arrested because, in a 
fit of anger with Colonel William Byrd, he had stripped 
off his coat and drawn his sword with the intention, ap- 
parently, of making an attack. The offence was com- 
mitted very near the house where the court of justices 
was sitting, which was probably considered as greatly ag- 
gravating its heinousness, especially as Byrd had come 
to take part in the deliberations of that body. Promptly 
clapped in jail, Chamberlaine soon broke down the bars, 
and but for the vigilance of the guards, would have made 
a clean escape. When brought before the justices, he 
sought to excuse himself for his conduct towards Colonel 
Byrd by saying that he was "a stranger in the country 
and ignorant of its laws and customs." The court, de- 
clining to accept such a palliation, declared that "no 
stranger, especially an English gentleman, could be in- 
sensible of y e respect and reverence due to so honorable 
a person" as Colonel William Byrd. Chamberlaine was 
sentenced to pay a fine of five pounds sterling, and also 
to have repaired, at his own expense, the damage he had 
done to the prison. 14 

The privilege extended to persons in the enjoyment of 



"Henrico County Minute Book, 1G82-1701, pp. 107-8, Va. St. 
Libr. 



134 The Social Life of Virginia 

the highest soical position in the community had, in many 
cases, been expressly established by law. For instance, at 
the sessions of 1623-4 the General Assembly, declaring 
it to be improper that persons of quality should undergo 
corporal punishment, enacted that, thereafter all persons 
of this kind should, in case of any delinquency, be merely 
imprisoned ; if their offence was of a more serious charac- 
ter, they were, apparently in addition, simply to pay such 
a fine as the monthly court should think just to impose. 15 
A regulation somewhat similar in spirit was adopted 
many years later on instructions from the English au- 
thorities, namely, that all male persons in the Colony, be- 
tween the ages of sixteen and sixty, with the exception, 
it would seem, of servants and slaves only, were to be 
liable to be called to arms, but in doing so, scrupulous 
care should be taken to show the strictest respect "to y e 
quality of y e person" in order that officers might not be 
"forced to go as private soldiers, or in places inferior to 
their degree." 16 Later in the century, the regard for the 
quality of the person in inflicting punishment for the less 
heinous offences was perhaps not carried so far, but it 
continued to be shown up to a certain point in numerous 
ways. 

One of the few instances of a gentleman receiving cor- 
poral punishment occurred in the case of Richard Den- 
ham, of Lancaster county, who, for delivering to a mem- 
ber of the county court while sitting, a challenge to fight 
a duel, was condemned to be struck six blows on the 
shoulder with a whip, a punishment called for by the 
outrage on the dignity of the court, but which was per- 
haps, merely nominal as administered; and certainly in 

16 Herring's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 127. 

16 Colonial Entry Book, 1606-62, p. 226. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 135 

no way approached the terrible whipping which would 
have been inflicted had Denham belonged to a lower or- 
der in society. 17 Those persons who occupied the social 
position of yeomen, were not considered to be of suffi- 
cient quality to entitle them to exemption from corporal 
punishment; for instance, in 1647, we find a citizen of 
Lower Norfolk county, who is designated in the judg- 
ment of the court as "yeoman," condemned to be whipped 
in the presence of the justices for defamation. 18 

A large proportion of the planters were simply small 
landowners. Previous to the year 1650, the average size 
of the patent did not exceed four hundred and forty-six 
acres, and after that year, six hundred and seventy-four. 19 
The greater number of these small estates were perhaps 
taken up by men of small means, who belonged to an 
humble walk in life, and whose names were obscure, and 
who personally possessed no special social influence. 
They were, in fact, as inferior, socially, to the gentry of 
Virginia in those times, as the same class in contemporary 
England were to the principal English landowners ; but 
there is no reason to think that they cringed in the 
slightest degree to the families which wielded the greatest 

"Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1052-50, p. G4. This is the 
only case in the seventeenth century records, of which I am aware, 
of a man of good position receiving corporal punishment for any 
offence. Denliam may, however, nol have been above the yeoman 
class, although the only fact now known about him was that he 
was the son-in-law of Captain Thomas Hackett, who presumably 
belonged to the social rank of a gentleman. 

18 Lower Norfolk I bounty Antiquary, Vol. II., p. 13. 

19 Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the Sevet 
Century, Vol. I., pp. 531-2. 



136 The Social Life of Virginia 

social and political power in the community. 20 In the 
first place, it is quite probable that the bulk of the small 
landowners had, in consequence of money they had 
brought over from England, been able to purchase es- 
tates as soon as they arrived in the Colony, or at least to 
sue out patents to public lands, by buying as many head 
rights as they could afford to do. 21 Independent pe- 
cuniarily, in however small a way, in the Mother Coun- 
try before they emigrated, they remained independent in 
the Colony after they had established themselves there 
permanently. In the second place, the life of compara- 
tive isolation which they led nourished in them a spirit 
of self-reliance, and their mastership of their own prop- 
erties, though contained within narrow boundaries, fos- 
tered in them a spirit of manly pride. Finally, they were 

20 William Puckett, of Henrico county, was in this respect a 
fair representative of his class in the communities of that day. 
When, in an altercation with him, in 1679, Major Chamberlaine 
heaped on him opprobrious epithets, Puckett replied with the 
utmost promptness and spirit. See Henrico County Records, Vol. 
1677-92, orig., p. 98. 

21 The following entries show the character and condition in 
England, before their emigration, of many small Virginian land- 
owners in the seventeenth century; they bear the date of 1658: 
"William Webb obtains 1 certificate from justices of Tewksbury 
Borough, England, that he, his wife, and family are nowe and for 
divers years last past have lived civilly and orderly within this 
towne." He obtained a second certificate from the church wardens 
of Bushley parish, County Worcester, that he was born in that 
parish : •' Besides 1 doe knowe that Stephen Webbe, the father, 
was a freeholder of several lands within the Manour of Bushley, 
and lived there for many yeares." William Webb was seeking to 
prove his right to property which his brother and nephew had left 
at their deaths in Virginia. See Surry County Records, Vol. 
1645-72, p. 145, Vn. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 137 

in full possession of the suffrage, which gave them, as 
a body, a considerable degree of political power, a privi- 
lege, apart from all else tending in the same direction, 
that was certain to ensure them importance, if not in- 
dividually, then as a mass. 

Nor did the fact that many small landowners had at 
one time been agricultural hands, under articles of in- 
denture, operate to lower the importance of this section 
of the community taken as a whole. Most of the in- 
dentured servants had, of their own accord, come out 
from England with the view of obtaining immediate em- 
ployment in the Colony, and with the hope that, at a later 
date, they might secure a small homestead of their own 
there. They belonged, as a rule, to the class of English 
farm laborers, who were as distinguished for intelligence 
and industry as any laborers in that age. With the more 
numerous opportunities opened to them in Virginia to 
improve their condition, there is reason to think that a 
very considerable proportion of this class of emigrants, 
when their terms expired, became owners of small es- 
tates, which they were able to acquire by superior pru- 
dence and economy. 22 

Towards the end of the century, the estimation in 
which the small landowners (whether they were men who 
had arrived with means, or had once served as laborers 
in the Colony) were held was, from a social point of 
view, greatly raised by the steady increase in the number 
of African slaves introduced into Virginia. The pres- 
ence of the negro bondsman had a marked tendency to 
promote pride of race among the members of every class 
of white people; to be white gave the distinction of color 
even to the agricultural servants, whose condition, in some 

22 See Bruce's Econ. Hist, of Va. in the Seventeenth Century. 



138 The Social Life of Virginia 

respects, was not much removed from that of actual 
slavery ; to be white and also to be free, combined the dis- 
tinction of color with the distinction of liberty ; and the 
two were all the more important if joined to the posses- 
sion of considerable property. 

There are numerous proofs that any suggestion as to 
social equality with the negro was resented even by the 
most indigent and illiterate section of the white popula- 
tion. An instance that occurred in York county in 168 1, 
shows the feeling prevailing on this point among white 
working men, on whom alone a slave was likely to have 
intruded himself, although in this case the slave's mis- 
tress, and not the slave himself, committed the fault com- 
plained of. Mrs. Vaulx, a woman of high social position, 
sent her slave, Frank, to negotiate a matter of business 
with James Macarty and Edward Thomas, who were ap- 
parently mechanics. The latter evidently resented the 
selection of a black man to convey to them such an im- 
portant message, for they curtly informed him that "they 
were not company for negroes," which seems to have 
ended the interview. 23 

Whilst the Indian, like the negro, could also, by law, 
be held in slavery, he seems, from a social point of view, 
to have enjoyed higher consideration with the white peo- 
ple; this is disclosed by the fact that there was no pro- 
hibition of the marriage of Indians with white persons, 
while the intermarriage of whites and blacks was strictly 
interdicted. There are instances in which the county 
courts expressly granted permission to a white man to 
take an Indian servant to wife; for example, in 1688, 
Benjamin Clamm, of Henrico county, was licensed by the 
justices to marry Sue, an Indian girl in the employment 

23 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 362. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 139 

of John Cox. 24 The marriage of John Rolfe and Poca- 
hontas, the daughter of Powhatan, had established a ro- 
mantic precedent, which, no doubt, had its influence in 
diminishing popular prejudice against such unions; the 
blood of the Indian princess flowed in the veins of some 
of the leading men in the Colony; and this fact alone 
was well calculated to remove any impression that such 
alliances were dishonorable. Moreover, the negro ar- 
rived in Virginia, not only a wretched slave, torn from 
his country, but also an indescribably raw and bestial 
savage, as hideous in aspect as he was brutish in instinct 
and mean in intelligence. The Indian, on the other hand, 
belonged to a far superior race, was brave and hardy in 
spirit, and often of remarkable dignity in appearance and 
stateliness of manner ; and as a member of an independ- 
ent nation, joined with the whites on equal terms in de- 
claring war and making treaties of peace. All these 
facts, so promotive of his importance as a man, were not 
likely to be forgotten in social intercourse. 

"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 200, Va. St. Libr. 



F 



IX. 
Social Spirit — Ties With the Mother Country. 
EW aspects of the social history of Virginia in the 



■*■" seventeenth century are more remarkable than the 
strong affection with which the people as a whole 
clung to all that reminded them of the Mother Coun- 
try, — to the habits, the customs, the moral standards, 
the ideas which prevailed and governed in that beloved 
land beyond the sea from which nearly all the colonists 
were directly sprung. 1 This unswerving loyalty in all 
social matters was especially characteristic of the Vir- 
ginians during this century because so large a propor- 
tion of the population had been born in England, and 
so many persons had left their native shires long after 
their earliest and most vivid impressions of the differ- 
ent communities in which they had first seen the light 
had been formed. It was not until the last decade of 
the century was reached that the native inhabitants of 
the Colony began to approach in number those who 
had emigrated from England. The sons and daughters 
of men and women whose first years had been passed 
under English skies were likely to have had almost as 
deep impressions of the Mother Country as their 

ir The Virginians, as late as 1670, seem to have spoken of them- 
selves as Englishmen. The following is from a petition drawn up 
in that year : " Ye Petitioner humbly prays that since the said 
Biggs hath herein neglected the performance of his duty, unbe- 
coming a good Christian, a loyall subject, and a true Englishman," 
etc., Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. X., p 376. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 141 

parents themselves, for it may be easily imagined that 
these parents, especially if they had belonged to the 
English gentry, omitted no opportunity of recalling 
for the amusement of their children their own child- 
hood and youth in their native land ; of describing all 
the varied scenes associated with those early experi- 
ences ; of picturing the old home ; of delineating the 
characters of the different members of the circle of 
kindred ; and relating an hundred interesting stories 
drawn from the long annals of the family history. It 
may be taken for granted that whatever was unhappy 
or unprosperous in their condition before they went 
out to Virginia faded from their memories, or became 
greatly softened in the retrospect when their thoughts 
flew back across the rolling waste of waters separating 
them from their native shores, — that the fields, mead- 
ows, and woods of England seemed to put on a new 
beauty, the ancient homes to be crowned with a new 
glory, the parish church and churchyard to be clothed 
in a new sacredness. Time and remoteness even cre- 
ated a glowing charm where none really existed and 
made the charm that really did exist appear an hun- 
dred fold more attractive. Thus by the plantation fire- 
sides love of all that went to compose the general social 
life of England was instilled into the hearts of the 
young Virginians ; it was acquired at the mother's 
knee ; it was drawn in with the very air they breathed. 
Members of all classes invariably spoke of England 
as "home." There is a touch of pathos in the constant 
use of this term as referring to "the Mother Country. 
We find it in the dryest business letters, and in the 
most formal legal documents. Nor was its use con- 
fined to persons whose home England had once been ; 



142 The Social Life of Virginia 

even the natives of Virginia who had never seen Eng- 
land, and never expected to cross the ocean to visit the 
land of their ancestors, always designated it by the 
same loving word which, as coming from them, at least 
reflected the unconscious yearning inherited from pa- 
rents born under English skies. It was when he came 
to consider the division of his estate and to think of 
death that the mind of the emigrant, however long he 
may have resided in Virginia, appears to have dwelt 
with the most lingering fondness upon the scenes of 
his boyhood and early manhood, and upon those kins- 
men who had remained behind. It is in wills that the 
expression "home" as applied to England is most fre- 
quently found, and it is there that it seems to be in- 
vested with its most pathetic interest. In some of 
these last testaments the writer is not content to use 
the word but once. In the will of Peter Hopegood, of 
Rappahannock county, for instance, it appears at least six 
times. 2 

Had it been practicable in that century, when sailors 
were even more superstitious than they are now, to 
transport coffined bodies back to England, many wills 
would, no doubt, have contained a provision that the 
testator should be buried in the English parish church 
where his ancestors had long been buried; where he 
himself had attended services in early life, and where 
perhaps his nearest relatives continued to worship. It 
must have been a sorrowful thought to many of these 
Virginians who had emigrated from England that 
their bones should find a last resting place so far from 
scenes associated for centuries with their forefathers, 

2 Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, p. 71, Va. St. 
Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 143 

and so far from ground that had been hallowed as the 
earth to which the dust of parents and kinsmen, per- 
haps of their own children, had been consigned. One 
of the most moving wills of the seventeenth century 
was that of Robert Day, which survives among the 
records of Westmoreland county. Though he fol- 
lowed the calling of a sea-captain, he appears to have 
been a citizen of Virginia. He left directions that, 
after his death, his heart should be removed from his 
body, embalmed, and conveyed to England, there to 
be interred beside the remains of his father, children, 
and friends. 3 

It was not simply the demands of business that, 
during the seventeenth century, led so many Virgin- 
ians to visit England ; a deep love for their old home 
influenced many of those who had been born there to 
return, whilst a natural curiosity to see what had been 
so often described to them, and a desire to meet kins- 
men whom they had never met, prompted many of the 
native colonists to make the voyage. There is not a 
surviving county record of the century which does not 
contain numerous notices of an intention to go by the 
first ship to England. As early as 1632 a special 
license had to be obtained by any one wishing to de- 
part before he could acquire a legal right to do so. 4 
This license seems to have been granted by the county 

3 Westmoreland County Records. Wills. 1665-77, folio p. 8G. 

*Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 200. The character of the 
clerk's certificate is illustrated in the following entry from Surry 
County Records: "I do herebye certify* that Michael Howard 
hath sett up his name and Resolution of goeing for England this 
p'sent shipping according to law. at Lawne's Creek P'rish Church, 
M'ch 1st. 1685-6." p' Jno Harris, Rcdr." 



144 The Social Life of Virginia 

court; and its recordation was not infrequently ac- 
companied by that of the last testament of the person 
receiving it, no doubt because the voyage was looked 
upon as attended with extraordinary danger. This 
fact must have brought a strong influence to bear to 
discourage many to undertake such a journey; and 
that the perils of an ocean-crossing were so constantly 
defied is only another proof of the close social bonds 
uniting such a large number of Virginians with the 
Mother Country. 

There were several reasons why the law provided 
that all wishing to leave the colony, whether perma- 
nently or for an interval, should, before doing so, ob- 
tain a license. First, it was to prevent debtors without 
property in Virginia from escaping to England, 
whither it was possible for them to have shipped be- 
forehand a large quantity of tobacco ; and secondly, to 
conform to the terms of the English statutes, which 
required that each parish should feed and lodge its own 
poor, and be careful that they did not wander beyond 
its own boundaries to become a burden upon another 
parish. In spite of the necessity of securing a license 
to leave, there was no restriction whatever upon lib- 
erty of departure unless there was the plainest ground 
for refusing to grant permission; and this in reality 
only arose in those cases in which creditors had reason 
to question the good faith of a debtor with little or 
nothing to root him to the soil of the Colony. If that 
debtor left sufficient estate behind to cover his obliga- 
tions, it is not probable that any obstacle was thrown 
in the way of his going. News of his intention was, 
no doubt, soon bruited abroad by persons who had 
been present at the session of the county court when 



in the Seventeenth Century. 145 

the license was asked for. Such an intention must 
have at once aroused the interest of the public, as a 
voyage to England was an event to be discussed in 
those quiet plantation communities; and if there was 
any one with a right to object to that intention being 
carried out, it was in his power to write at once to the 
clerk of the county court asking him to refuse to de- 
liver the license certificate until reasons for opposing 
such a license could be offered. 5 

Not infrequently as many as eight persons at a 
single sitting of the county court published their in- 
tention of leaving for England, and obtained the 
license required. In making such a long and tedious 
voyage, it was natural that the companionship of 
friends and acquaintances counted for much ; and no 
doubt, as far as possible, there was an effort on the 
part of each person to time his departure so as to ob- 
tain on shipboard the society of others, like himself, 
going out to the Mother Country. Very often the wife 
would accompany the husband to afford him the solace 
of her presence. Many of those who returned to 
England remained there premanently under the influ- 
ence of renewed social ties with their native land, or 
of an advantageous opening to follow some business 

'"Mr. Francis Meriwether, Clerk of Ct., I would desire you 
not to lei Mr. John Waters have a certificate for goeing out of ye 
Countrye untill you receive a note from ine yr subscriber, for he 
is my debtor a considerable sum of money in tobo. Ja'ny .°«0, HI02. 
Thomas Wheeler." This is from Essex County Records, Vol. 
1692-95, p. 170 Va. St. Libr. Waters had published his intention 
of going to England. 

\ case of husband and wife going out to England together is 
recorded in Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1G77-82, orig., 
p. 161. 



146 The Social Life of Virginia 

there. Some, having probably accumulated a compe- 
tence in Virginia, desired to spend their last days in 
ease and quiet in the midst of the scenes which had 
been familiar to them in childhood and early man- 
hood. 7 Some, who were simply revisiting England for 
a time, died there, and their wills distributing their 
estates in the Colony were recorded in the general 
probate office in London along with the testaments of 
other English citizens. 8 Some were detained in Eng- 
land far beyond the period they had assigned for their 
stay. There are numerous instances in which the 
county courts granted a wife permission to take legal 
charge of her husband's affairs owing to his unex- 
pected detention abroad. 9 Quite frequently the trial of 
a suit was deferred from sitting to sitting until one of 
these visitors to the Mother Country who was a party 
to the cause should reach Virginia on his anticipated 
return. 10 

This constant intercourse with England must have 
had a powerful influence in preserving and strength- 
ening an affection for it, not only in the hearts of the 
Virginians who revisited it, but also in the hearts of 
all their kinsmen and friends, who themselves had not 
enjoyed the same privilege. Doubtless, those who had 

7 The following is from the York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, 
orig., p. 470: "Know all men by these presents that I, Anthony 
Hall, late of Virginia, now of the Bogge in England, gentleman 
* * * appoint Mrs. Rebecca Hethersall as my attorney." 

8 See Waters's Gleanings and also the "Virginia Gleanings in 
England," which are abstracts of wills, recorded in London, con- 
tributed to the Va. Maga. of History and Biography (see Vol. 
X., et seq.) by Mr. Lothrop Wlthington. 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72; see entries for year 1661. 
10 Elizabeth City County Records Orders, Nov. 18, 1692. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 147 

been so happy as to see the Mother Country returned 
with far more graphic accounts to give of its teeming 
cities and beautiful landscapes, its shaded streams, 
green meadows, and yellow cornfields, its ancient 
homes, hoary castles, and stately churches, than could 
be found in all the books in the Colony, whilst the af- 
fectionate welcome they had received from relations 
over sea made a deeper impression as described by 
word of mouth than the kindest expressions used in 
the letters which came from those same persons. 

The little band of sea-captains, who were annually 
voyaging backwards and forwards, were also very active 
in keeping up an uninterrupted communication between 
English and Virginian kinsmen. These sea-captains, as 
we have already seen, were a body of superior men, who 
were freely admitted to the tables of the foremost 
planters. Many a verbal message and letter were car- 
ried by them from relatives in Virginia to relatives in 
England, or the reverse, and through them there was 
also a constant exchange of gifts testifying to mutual 
interest, affection, and esteem. William Byrd, the 
elder, very frequently used these agents, who were 
perhaps only too pleased to accommodate so consid- 
erable a man, in sending to English friends such a 
present as a choice assortment of hickory nuts and 
walnuts, or slips of sassafras and pawpaw; and 
through them, he was sent in return, in affectionate 
recognition of his good will and kindness, gooseberry 
and current shrubs, and the like, or the seeds and roots 
of such flowers as iris, crocus, tulip and anemone. 11 
William Fitzhugh receives, among other presents, 
from English friends, a quantity of claret, and shows 

"Letters of William Byrd, May 20, 21, L684; .Inly 29, 1690. 



148 The Social Life of Virginia 

his appreciation of the gift by shipping in return a 
quantity of cider, which had been expressed from the 
apples of his own orchards. 12 Had all the letter books 
of the wealthy planters of those times been preserved, 
it would be seen that, with hardly an exception, they 
would note incidents similar to these in the lives of 
Byrd and Fitzhugh. Now the gift would be a cardi- 
nal red bird, the nightingale of Virginia; now the 
mocking bird, with its echoes of the entire choir of 
the colonial forests ; now the flying squirrel or opos- 
sum ; now the raccoon, which the first settlers took to 
be a species of monkey. 13 If the kindly spirit towards 
English kindred and friends crops out in the record of 
such characteristic presents as these in correspondence 
devoted almost exclusively to business, it can be easily 
imagined that the letters of a less practical and formal 
nature, such, for instance, as passed between the ladies 
of the related English and Virginia families, would 
have breathed a spirit of even greater kindness and af- 
fection, and in doing so gone far towards overcoming 
the alienating influences arising ffom a long separa- 
tion in time and from the vast dividing reaches of the 
ocean. 

Numerous bequests coming from both the Virginian 
and English branches of the same family reveal how 
strong the ties between English and Virginian kin- 
dred were, and how earnestly it was sought to cherish 
these ties to the last. 14 On the English side it is not con- 

12 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 20, 1694. 

13 Some years ago, there was a Virginian raccoon caged in the 
courtyard of Warwick Castle, a more common sight in England in 
the seventeenth century than in the nineteenth, however. 

14 The gifts frequently had a sentimental as well as an intrinsic 



in the Seventeenth Century. 149 

fined to bequests from parents to their own offspring, 
who had settled in the Colony. 15 Such an evidence of 
kindness and affection as Mrs. Margaret Cheeseman, 
of Bermondsey, showed in her will towards the family 
of Lemuel Mason, of Lower Norfolk county, was far 
from being uncommon. She left ten pounds sterling. 
equal in modern values to two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, to each one of his numerous children. In 1687 
John Pargiter, of London, bequeathed an equal amount 
to Sarah Lovell, who also resided in Virginia ; and a 
like amount was in 1666 left to Thomas Poulter by 
Hannah Wallis, of the same city. In the same year 
Joseph Walker, of Westminster, bequeathed property 
to a kinsman of his own name in Virginia, while Jane 
Maplesdin, also of Westminster, left a considerable 
legacy to John Lee, a citizen of the Colony. Among 
other persons in England who about the same time 
made bequests to friends or relatives over sea were 
Edward Francis and Joseph May. These are only a 
few typical instances among the many belonging to 
every decade of the century which might be mentioned. 
Bequests from Virginians to their English kindred 
are even more frequent. For example, in 1648 Rich- 
ard Simons left his whole estate situated in the Colony 

value; for, instance, Mrs. Anne Mason left to "Mr. Gideon Mason, 
now living in Virginia, and to his wife, to each of them .1 ring of 
20sh. a piece; to Gideon Mason, his son, her silver tankard; to 
Ann Mason, her silver porringer; to Martha, her -i\ silver 
spoons." See Ya. Maga. of Hi.-t. and Biog., Vol. X.. p. U2. 

J "How numerous were the bequests from English parents to 
their children residing in the Colony is shown by the wills which 
appear in the "Virginia Gleaning in England," published in the 
Virginia Maga. of History and Biography. 



150 The Social Life of Virginia 

to his son, a resident of England, 10 whilst a few years 
later John Clarke, the owner of two valuable houses 
in Booking, Essex, devised this property to his father, 
who was probably a citizen of that place, 17 an addi- 
tional proof that many members of the highest plant- 
ing class in Virginia continued to possess estates in 
the Mother Country long after their emigration. Wil- 
liam Calvert, in 1665, bequeathed a large amount to his 
brother, whose home stood near Newark, in Notting- 
hamshire 18 ; and about ten years later Henry Isham 
by will left his mother a one-third share of all the 
property he owned in both England and Virginia. 19 
Thomas Taylor, in 1693, divided forty-two pounds 
sterling among his four children, a son and three 
daughters, who still resided in the Mother Country; 
and the amount due to each was, as each came of age, 
to be paid by the rector of the parish church of Finch- 
ley, in Middlesex. 20 George Jordan by his will di- 
rected that two thousand pounds of tobacco, which 
had been placed in his hands by William Jordan, 
should be shipped to England to be devoted to the use 
of the latter's children residing at Gyburne, near 
Skipton, in Yorkshire. 21 Such are a few characteristic 

16 York County Records, Vol. 1638-48, p. 431, Va. St. Libr. 

"York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 78, Va'. St. Libr. 

18 York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 126, Va. St. Libr. 

m Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 72. 

20 Elizabeth City County Records, Vol. 1684-99, p. 250, Va. St. 
Libr. 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 295, Va. St. Libr. 
Many other instances will be found in Mr. Wellington's "Virginia 
Cleanings in England," the first number of which was published 
in Virginia Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. X., p. 291; see, for 
example, the will of Peter Ashton, Vol. X., p. 293. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 151 

instances of gifts by last testament to immediate rela- 
tives in England. The number of similar bequests and 
devises to relatives more remote in blood was very- 
much greater. 

As early as 1646, by which time considerable wealth 
had been accumulated in the Colony, its citizens had 
begun to leave money for the benefit of indigent per- 
sons dwelling in those English communities with 
which the first part of the testators' lives had been 
associated ; for instance, in the course of that year, 
Richard Elrington, of York county, bequeathed ten 
pounds sterling to the poor of St. Martin's-in-the- 
Fields, in London, subject to the provision that it 
should be distributed as far as it would go, among the 
oldest paupers to be found in that parish, at the rate 
of two shillings and six pence a head. 22 Christopher 
Robinson bequeathed five pounds sterling to the poor 
of Cleasby, where he was born; 23 and in 1655 ten 
pounds sterling was bequeathed by Captain John 
Moon, of Isle of Wight county, for the support of the 
poor living at Berry and Alverstock, in Hampshire. 
As this was designed to be a permanent fund, the in- 
terest alone was to be expended in alleviating the con- 
dition of the indigent in those places. 24 Nathaniel 
Knight, of Surry county, provided in his will that one- 
half of his estate should be distributed among a certain 
number of English persons, whom he designated in 
proportion to their necessities, 25 whilst Philip Chesley 

"York County Records, Vol. 1638-4S. p. 135, Va. St. Libr. 

28 Va'. Ma ? a. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., r. 20. 

2< Will of John Moon. Tslo of Wighl County Wills for 1655. 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 260, Va. St. Libr. 
Knight's father, who was to carry oui this provision, resided at 
Stroodwater, Gloucestershire. 



152 The Social Life of Virginia 

left a legacy of one hogshead of tobacco to every one 
of his name residing in Welford, Gloucestershire. 26 

The affection and confidence in which the Virginians 
held their English relatives are shown in the numer- 
ous instances in which a son or daughter was, by last 
testament, recommended to the care of English kin- 
dred during the period the child was receiving general 
instruction, or preparing for some special pursuit in 
life. One example among many is furnished by 
Thomas Crosby, of Isle of Wight county, who, in 1679, 
bequeathed his son to Thomas Graves, of London, 
with the request that he should be properly educated 
as well as trained by an apprenticeship to earn his liv- 
ing in some branch of trade. 27 In many cases, to be 
referred to hereafter, Virginian parents during their 
own lives invoked the assistance of their English rela- 
tives when they sent their children to school in Eng- 
land. For instance, in 1684 we find the elder William 
Byrd seeking the kindly offices of his kinsfolk in Lon- 
don when his daughter was about to set sail. "She 
could learn nothing here in a great family of negroes," 
he wrote, and he was, therefore, led, in spite of her 
tender years, to let her go over sea to enjoy the ad- 
vantage of a good English school, a step he, no doubt, 
would not have taken, on account of her youth, 
had there not been near relatives in England to show 
an interest in her welfare. 28 

As far as possible all the social customs and habits 
characteristic of England were closely followed in the 

2S York County Records, see Wills, for 1674. 

27 Isle of Wight County Records, Vol. 1661-1719, p. 193. 

"Letters of William Byrd, March 31, 1684. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 153 

social life of Virginia. For example, one of the most 
common provisions of wills made in the Colony dur- 
ing the seventeenth century was for the purchase of 
mourning rings to be distributed among kinsmen and 
friends ; and a definite sum was generally set apart 
by the testators themselves to be devoted to this pur- 
pose. The amount thus used was often very large. 
Corbin Griffin, of Middlesex county, left twenty-five 
pounds sterling, equal in value to six hundred dollars 
in our present American currency, with which mourn- 
ing rings were to be bought; and he directed that at 
least fifteen of these rings, designed, no doubt, for the 
persons to whom he was most attached, should cost 
not less than a guinea a piece. Under the will of the 
elder Nathaniel Bacon twenty pounds sterling were to 
be expended in a similar way. John Page, in his last 
testament, instructed his executors to buy eighteen 
mourning rings ; the executors of Roger Hodge were 
directed to buy fourteen ; and the executors of Robert 
Beckingham sixteen. 20 A like provision was also often 
made in wills for the purchase of gloves to be pre- 
sented after the testator's death to his nearest relatives 
and friends. For example, in 1676 John Emerson made 
such a testamentary gift to each of thirteen persons 
whom he had in life esteemed most highly; and he 
went so far as to direct that each pair of gloves should 
not fall below twelve pence in cost. 30 

The English custom of giving various articles the 

"Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in (lie Seventeenth 
Century, Vol. TT.. p. 195. When Mary, the daughter of John Eve- 
iyn, llio diarist,died, sixty mourning rings were distributed among 

her friends. See Diary, March 10. b 

35 Surry County Records, Vol. 1G71-S4, p. 184, Va. Si. Libr. 



154 The Social Life of Virginia 

character of heirlooms was also very generally followed 
in Virginia. Even such ordinary household objects 
as tables and cupboards were brought into this legal 
category by the special provision of wills ; but this was 
probably due to the great value in which such objects, 
when beautiful in design and finish, were held owing 
to the heavy expense incurred in their purchase and 
transportation across the ocean. 31 Rings, looking- 
glasses, Bibles — all passed very frequently subject to 
this same law in order that they might, like land en- 
tailed, remain in the same family for an indefinite 
period. The articles thus invested with the almost 
sacred character of heirlooms had, perhaps, in most 
instances, acquired an extraordinary sentimental value 
from their association with the homes and early lives 
of the testators in England, or had descended from 
their English ancestors. It was a frequent occurrence 
that a Virginian in his last will requested of the vestry 
of his parish church permission for his executors to 
inter his body in the chancel because that privilege had 
been enjoyed in England by his forefathers. 32 

The planter sometimes received the name of his 
residence as a kind of surname in accord with a cus- 
tom prevailing in Scotland, and to some extent in the 

31 Rappahannock County Record?, Vol. 1677-82, p. 53, Va. St. 
Libr. 

32 The Avill of George Watkin, of Surry county, contains the 
following : "My body I comit to ye earth from whence it came to 
be Buried in decent manner in ye Chancelle of ye Church at 
Lawnes Creek, as- my p'r'cessors have been in ye chancell of ye 
P'rish Churches where they dwelt." Surry County Records, Vol. 
1671-84, p. 55, Va. St. Libr. Burials in the chancel depended upon 
the consent of the minister. See Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 243. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 155 

north of England. For example, John Parker, a prom- 
inent citizen of Accomac, is generally designated in 
the county's records as "John Parker of Mattapony," 33 
and other instances of the like character might he men- 
tioned. 

The names of many Virginian homes at this period 
bore a close resemblance to names so often used in the 
Mother Country. For example, the residence of 
Christopher Robinson, situated in Middlesex county, 
was known as the "Grange." 34 The name of "Exeter 
Lodge" was given to the residence which John Saffin 
had erected in Northumberland county, 35 while the 
residence of Thomas Bushrod, in York, bore the name 
of "Essex Lodge." 3G In some wills belonging to this 
period the home of the testator is referred to simply as 
the "manor house," a term in general use in England. 87 
The other names which the emigrants gave their Vir- 
ginian homes show a fond recollection of the English 
mansions in which they were born, or with which their 
families had been long associated. For instance, the 
residence of Captain Thomas Purifoy, in Elizabeth 
City county, had received the name of "Drayton," in 
honour of the ancient seat of the Purifoys in Leices- 
tershire, the shire from which Mrs. Purifoy had come, 
and probably her husband also. 3S The residence of the 

: lecomac County Records, Vol. 1682-97, folio p. 88. 

"Va\ Maga. of Hist, and Biog. Vol. VII., p. 20. 

35 Northumberland County Records, Vol. 1666-72, Depositions, 
Jan'y 20, 1"666. 

"York County Raeords, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 135. 

"Rappahannock County Records, Wills, Vol. 1677-82, p. 75, 
Va. St. L,ibr. 

88 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 101. 



156 The Social Life of Virginia 

Moseleys, of Lower Norfolk county, where they had 
settled as early as 1649, was known as "Rolleston" in 
recollection of Rolleston Hall, the seat of the Moseley 
family, in Staffordshire. 39 Sometimes the name of the 
home was suggestive of an English stateliness which 
was not necessarily entirely foreign to the home itself 
even in these early times. For example, Richard Cole, 
of Westmoreland county, had given his home the name 
of "Salisbury Park," 40 a designation in such popular 
use in England, and which in this case was probably 
made appropriate by an extensive and magnificent 
growth of trees surrounding the house. The term 
"Hall" as applied to a residence was also not uncom- 
mon. 

30 Va, Maga, of Hist, and Biog., Vol. V., p. 327. 
40 See Cole's Will in Westmoreland County Itecords, Vol. 1G65- 
1G77, folio p. 186. 



X. 

Social Spirit — Manner of Life. 

FOLLOWING the shores of the lower reaches of the 
great rivers, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the 
York and the James, we find many years before the close 
of the seventeenth century, a succession of large planta- 
tions, on each of which there stood a substantial mansion, 
occupied by a family of social and political prominence, 
descended from the English gentry, and using coats-of- 
arms, to which they were legally entitled. As early as 
1675, the Colony had been established long enough for 
these homes, in their outer and inner physical aspect, to 
have acquired some of the dignity distinguishing so many 
of the ancient English manor-houses, and in their intimate 
social life, much of that charm which was thrown around 
the social life of England in that age by ease of fortune, 
refined manners, general culture, and the amenities 
springing from the closest bonds of kinship and friend- 
ship. In every important feature, the society of Vir- 
ginia in the seventeenth century was the same as that 
far more celebrated society which constitutes the most 
romantic side of the Colony's history in the eighteenth, 
although, necessarily in the seventeenth century, the ac- 
cumulation of wealth had not as yet gone so far, and 
therefore, the ability to make a display was not so great. 
Before considering the most salient features of the 
social life of Virginia at this early period, it will be in- 
structive to touch briefly on the material background of 
that life, on which I dwelt at length in a former work. 1 

'The authorities fcr the details that follow as relating to 



158 The Social Life of Virginia 

First, as to the residences. The residences were, as a 
rule, built of wood, with the chimneys and the under- 
pinning of brick. Among the few constructed entirely of 
brick was the house of Governor Berkeley, situated at 
Green Spring, near Jamestown ; and this was also true 
of the mansion in Surry county, occupied by Thomas 
Warren. The common use of wood in Virginia in erect- 
ing a residence was due to the abundance as well as to 
the superior quality of the timber; in England, on the 
other hand, owing to the smallness of the area in forest, 
stone, brick, and slate were generally employed for this 
purpose, with the result that the houses were better able 
to withstand the disintegrating force of time and weather, 
and were less open to the risk of fire. In England, as in 
the Colony, the floors and stairways were composed of 
wood, and the lower walls were lined with wainscotting. 
Abraham Piersey, the wealthiest merchant and planter in 
Virginia in the early years of the Colony, and* William 
Fitzhugh, who possessed one of the largest fortunes of 
a later period, each occupied a wooden residence. The 
history of Fitzhugh's home resembled that of numerous 
others — it had gradually spread out, by the erection of 
wing after wing, as his family grew in size, until the 
whole covered a very considerable area of ground. This 
house contained as many as twelve or thirteen apart- 
ments. The residence of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges, in York 
county, contained, in addition to other apartments, both 
large and small, what were known as the "yellow" and 
the "red" rooms, chambers, no doubt, used only when 
there were guests in the house. There was also a large 

houses and their contents, clothes, abundance of food, and the 
like, will be found in Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the 
Seventeenth Century, Vol. II., chapts. xii., xiii. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 159 

hall-parlor, which probably served the mixed purpose of 
a family sitting-room and a withdrawing-room for visi- 
tors. The residence of the elder Nathaniel Bacon, a man 
who possessed a very large estate, and who, being very 
prominent in the political life of the Colony, must have 
entertained very constantly contained, besides a number 
of sleeping chambers, what were described as the "old 
and the new halls," which, in summer at least, were prob- 
ably used at sitting-rooms. Rosegill, the home of Ralph 
Wormeley, who, like Bacon, enjoyed great social and 
political influence, contained a large withdrawing-room, 
in addition to numerous sleeping chambers. There was, 
perhaps, no other residence in Virginia more admirably 
appointed for the entertainment of guests. It was situat- 
ed directly on the banks of the Rappahannock river, in 
one of its widest and noblest reaches, which thus afforded 
extraordinary facilities for boating and sailing. The li- 
brary was, perhaps, the choicest and largest in the 
Colony, while the house itself was unusually spacious. 

The residence of Robert Beverley, who was as com- 
manding a figure as Bacon or Wormeley, was smaller 
in its dimensions than Rosegill ; it contained six large 
chambers, one of which was, perhaps, used as a with- 
drawing-room. There were eight rooms in the residence 
of Richard Willis, one of the most prominent citizens of 
Middlesex county. Among the numerous rooms in the 
residence of William Fauntleroy was a large hall. The 
residence of Thomas Willoughby, of Lower Norfolk, 
contained, besides a hall and numerous other apartments, 
a parlor or withdrawing-room, and two chambers, known 
as "the green" and "the red," which, like the two simi- 
larly designated in the residence of Mrs. Elizabeth 
Digges, were, no doubt, always reserved for guests as 
the two handsomest rooms in the house. The residence 



160 The Social Life of Virginia 

of Southey Littleton, in Accomac county, contained, 
among other apartments, a hall and three sleeping cham- 
bers; the hall was probably used as a dining-room, as 
the expression "dining hall" appears not infrequently in 
the records. 

These residences are fairly representative, in the point 
of spaciousness, of all those occupied by the class of 
wealthy planters, and it will be seen that they contained 
ample room, whether in the way of halls, dining-rooms, 
or chambers, for the entertainment of guests in great ease 
and comfort. It is doubtful whether, in this respect, the 
home of the average English country gentleman of that 
period offered a more liberal accommodation. 

The inventories of the estates of the leading citizens 
show that these colonial residences were furnished and 
ornamented after the most substantial and attractive pat- 
terns which England afforded. There was every variety 
of bed, protected by hanging mosquito nets, and supplied 
with the finest linen sheets, and very often with silk 
counterpanes, whilst the sides were adorned with valances 
of gold and silver texture. There were couches, which 
were not infrequently covered with embroidered Russian 
leather, or Turkey-worked cloth; and chairs ranging in 
kind from those having the seat made of rushes, or rudely 
tanned calf skin, to those with the seat and back com- 
posed of the costliest Russian leather or cloth elaborately 
embroidered. In some of the residences, there were as 
many as twenty-four chairs, bound in the finest Russian 
leather; in one room alone, no doubt the parlor of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Digges's home, there were nine chairs covered 
with Turkey-worked cloth; and eleven with cloth, into 
which a pattern of arrows had been woven, were found 
in another apartment. 

The large fire-places were made for the burning of 



in the Seventeenth Century. 161 

wood; in the clearing of new grounds, an annual task on 
each plantation, a vast quantity of fuel was accumulated, 
and thus furnished a supply for use in winter, which it 
was impossible to exhaust. Hickory was especially abun- 
dant; and cut down in the Spring, became thoroughly 
seasoned before Autumn had passed; the heavy logs, 
piled up on the great iron or brass andirons in the hall, 
gave out a ruddy glow, which brought the warmth back 
into the body of the guest who had been travelling from 
a remote plantation, through snow and a biting air to 
reach the home of his host. A fire was kept lighted in 
this apartment, and a little slave, hardly to be distin- 
guished from the dogs drowsing about the hearth, was 
always at hand to throw on another stick as the flame be- 
gan to decline. In the sleeping chambers reserved for 
visitors fuel was laid in each fire-place, requiring but the 
touch of a candle to the resinous pine knots to burst into 
a hot fire. The floors of the finer residences were cov- 
ered with carpets, which served further to assure the 
comfort of the guests and inmates. Some of those used 
in the parlors, and, no doubt, in the handsomest sleeping 
rooms, also, were of the costliest material; for instance, 
in the home of Mrs. Digges, two of the chambers were 
laid with Turkey-worked carpets, while the carpets cover- 
ing the floors of two other rooms were of a green color, 
and perhaps equally as expensive. The windows in all 
of the principal apartments were shaded by linen cur- 
tains, and the chimneys were hung with printed cottons. 
In some houses, tapestry adorned the walls of the best 
rooms. Pictures also looked down from many places. 
In the homes of such wealthy men as William Fitzhugh, 
Thomas Ludlow, Joseph Croshaw, and Edward Digges, 
there seem to have been numerous pictures, the larger 
proportion of which were probably copies of ancestral 



162 The Social Life of Virginia 

portraits brought over from England, as at this time 
there were no artists in the Colony to fix on canvas the 
faces of members of the leading families. 

The dining-room at this period seems to have con- 
tained a great variety of tables; there was the folding, 
the falling, the oval, and the side-board table, some of 
which were so handsome that they were, as we have seen, 
often required by the wills of the owners to descend as 
heirlooms. The tablecloths were frequently of the finest 
stuff; for instance, Mrs. Elizabeth Digges possessed nine 
manufactured of damask, and the napkins, of which 
there was a great profusion owing to the absence of forks, 
were often made of the same material ; thirty-six damask 
napkins are included in the entries of the Digges inven- 
tory. The open -cupboards of the dining-room presented 
a very liberal display of plates and dishes. At this time, 
these utensils were generally made of pewter ; so were the 
spoons, bowls, jugs, sugar pots, castors, and porringers; 
and so also were the cups, flagons, tankards, and beakers. 
In the seventeenth century, the calling of the pewterer 
was one of the most important of all the mechanical 
trades, and the art was carried to the highest state of per- 
fection. Polished with extraordinary care, these pewter 
utensils shone with a brightness approaching quite near 
to that of silver ; to the casual glance, the cupboard of the 
colonial dining-room of this early period seemed to be 
filled with utensils of the more precious metal, and, no 
doubt, the mistress was often gratified by compliments 
paid by her guests to the shining array on the shelves. 

But the table service was not restricted 1 to pewter, 
though that material necessarily was the one most often 
used. The travellers visiting the Colony in the seven- 
teenth century comment on the quarftity of silver which 
they saw in the residences of the different planters; 



in the Seventeenth Century. 163 

plates and dishes, cups, tumblers, mugs, tankards, flagons, 
beakers, porringers, bowls, sugar pots, castors, and 
spoons, made of this valuable material, were frequently 
noticed. Some of this silver had been inherited from 
English parents, but the greater part had been bought 
from English silversmiths. Planters in the possession of 
large fortunes were constantly purchasing silver plate 
through their merchants in England; and this was done 
not only for the more striking display which a silver table 
service would make, but also as a safe form of invest- 
ment. On one occasion, we find William Fitzhugh giv- 
ing an order to an English correspondent to purchase for 
him two silver dishes, to weigh about fifty ounces apiece ; 
a set of silver castors to receive sugar, pepper, and mus- 
tard which was to weigh from twenty-four to twenty-six 
ounces ; a silver basin, to weigh from forty to forty-five, 
a silver salver and pair of candlesticks, to weigh thirty 
ounces apiece; and a silver ladle, to weigh ten ounces. 
To these, there were to be added a dozen silver hafted 
knives and a dozen silver hafted forks. On another oc- 
casion, Fitzhugh purchased in England two silver dishes, 
weighing between eighty and ninety ounces apiece, 
twelve ordinary silver plates, and two silver bread plates, 
a large pair of silver candlesticks, and one paid of silver 
snuffers. 

The elder William Byrd, like Fitzhugh, invested large 
sums, from time to time, in silver plate of different kinds. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Digges left to relatives two hundred and 
sixty-one ounces of such plate, and Corbin Griffin one 
hundred and sixty-one, whilst the silver plate belonging 
to Robert Beverley was valued at a figure now equal to 
nearly eight hundred dollars. Even the planters who had 
moderate estates, were in possession of a considerable 
quantity of silver in the shape of salt-cellars, spoons, 



164 The Social Life of Virginia 

beakers, cups, tankards, and the like. Richard Ward, of 
Henrico county, a planter of small fortune, bequeathed 
twenty-seven silver spoons; another planter of York 
county, of fortune equally small, divided by will twenty- 
four silver spoons and one silver tankard. Numerous 
other instances might be mentioned. 
. For the amusement of the guests in the house, as well 
as of the members of the family, musical instruments 
were to be found in nearly all the planters' residences ; 
there are frequent references in the inventories to the 
virginal, the hand lyre, the fiddle, and violin, and also to 
the recorder, flute, and hautboy, as a part of personal 
estates. As we shall see hereafter, a small collection of 
carefully-selected books was one of the most ordinary 
contents of the Virginian home, and during those hours 
when the visitor was not occupied with other pastimes, 
an interesting volume was at hand to divert him, if his 
tastes were literary. 

There are many evidences that, from an early date, 
numbers of the wealthiest class of planters possessed a 
large quantity of the most fasionable clothes which the 
English tailors could furnish. This enabled them to 
make an attractive appearance in entertaining in their own 
homes, or in visiting the homes of their friends. Among 
other articles of dress owned by Thomas Warnet, a mer- 
chant who died in Virginia about 1629, were a pair of 
silk stockings, a pair of black hose, a pair of red slippers, 
a sea-green scarf, edged with gold lace, a felt hat, a black 
beaver, a doublet of black camlet, a gold belt and sword. 
All this bravery must have been very imposing when seen 
on the streets of Jamestown, or in the houses of its citi- 
zens; but that it was not unusual, is shown by the fact 
that a law had to be passed before the middle of the sev- 
enteenth century, restricting the liberty of importing so 



in the Seventeenth Century. 165 

much finery; it was expressly forbidden to bring in silk 
pieces, unless designed for hoods and scarfs, or to in- 
troduce silver, gold, and bone lace, or ribbons wrought 
with gold and silver texture. But this law was either 
repealed, or treated with contempt ; silk stockings, beaver 
hats, green scarfs, gold lace, and red slippers were as 
common articles of dress in Virginia as in England itself. 
On gay occasions, the men strutted about in camlet coats 
with sleeves ending in lace ruffles; in waistcoats black, 
white, or blue, or adorned with patterns elaborately Tur- 
key-worked ; and in trousers made of the costliest plush 
or broad cloth. The whole suit was often manufactured 
from broad cloth or plush and dyed an olive color. About 
their necks they wore cloths of muslin, or the finest hol- 
land, and in their shoes, shining brass, steel, or silver 
buckles, whilst they carried in their hands or pockets silk 
or lace handkerchiefs, delicately scented. 2 

The dress of the ladies was even more remarkable for 
fineness of texture and beauty of aspect. There are in- 
numerable references in the inventories of personal es- 
tates to silk and flowered gowns, bodices of blue linen or 
green satin; waistcoats, bonnets, and petticoats trimmed 
with silk or silver lace; sarsanet and calico hoods, scarfs 
of brilliant shades of color, mantles of crimson taffeta, 
laced and gallooned shoes, gilt and golden stomachers, 
and fans richly ornamented. The wardrobe of Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Digges, which perhaps did not differ from that of 
any other woman in the Colony of equal wealth and posi- 
tion, contained, among its numerous pieces of finery, a 

■"' Brother, the five waistcoats and throe felts, the 9 yards of 
redd kersey, the Scarlett coat with silver buttons are in James's 
sea chest." See letter of James Clarke, 1G59, York County Records, 
Vol. 1G57-G2, p. 180, Va. St. Libr. 



i66 The Social Life of Virginia 

scarlet waistcoat trimmed with silver lace, a sky-colored 
satin bodice, and a pair of red paragon bodies. Mrs. 
Frances Pritchard, of Lancaster county, possessed a print- 
ed calico gown, lined with blue silk, a white striped dimi- 
ty jacket, a blue silk waistcoat, a pair of scarlet sleeves 
with ruffles, and a Flanders lace band: These costly ar 
tides of dress were further set off by valuable jewelry; 
the ladies' caskets contained numerous pearl necklaces, 
gold pendants, silver earrings, and gold hand rings, 
which were worn, if not every day, on every social occa- 
sion when the bravest ornaments seemed appropriate. 
Among the possessions of the Dickenson family, who re- 
sided in York county, were one gold ring, set with a single 
ruby, a second ring set with seven rubies, and a third, 
set with a white stone. 3 Nathaniel Branker, of Lower 
Norfolk county, owned a sapphire set in gold, three gold 
rings, adorned with a blue and green and a yellow stone 
respectively, a diamond ring of several sparks, and a 
beryl set in silver. There were three other rings, and an 
amber necklace in addition. 4 Among the articles owned 
by Denis McCarty, of Rappahannock county, was a ring 
bearing eight diamonds. 5 Small gold and silver bodkins 
for holding together and decorating the hair, were in 
general use among the ladies of this period. 

3 York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 474, Va. St. Libr. 

4 Lower Norfolk County Records, orig. Vol. I., 1686-95, folio 
p. 17. 

'- Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1686-92, orig., p. 241. 
See, also, an account of the jewelry owned by the Moseley family 
given in Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the seventeenth 
century. See, also, will of Mrs. Howe in Va. Maga. of Hist, and 
Biog. for October, 1906, under which the Hill family of Shirley, on 
James river, inherited valuable rings, etc. The list might be 
greatly extended. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 167 

Few countries of the world have possessed so abundant 
and varied a supply of food as Virginia during the sev- 
enteenth century. This partly explains the hospitable dis- 
position of the people even in those early times. The 
herds of cattle, which ran almost wild, afforded an in- 
exhaustible quantity of milk, butter, cheese, veal, and beef. 
The hams obtained from hogs that had fed on the suc- 
culent mast of the forests, was considered by travelled 
visitors to the Colony to be quite equal, if not superior, 
to the celebrated hams cured in Westphalia. Deer were 
shot in such extraordinary numbers, that it was said the 
people had grown tired of eating venison. There were 
few counties in which there were not many large flocks 
of sheep; and mutton was much relished. So abundant 
were chickens that they were not included in the inven- 
tories of personal estates ; no planter was so badly off 
that he could not have a fowl on his table at dinner. The 
wild turkeys frequenting the woods were of remarkable 
weight and afforded a popular repast. The clouds of 
wild pigeons arriving at certain seasons in incredible 
numbers, were killed by the tens of thousands, and for 
many weeks furnished an additional dish for the planter's 
table. So vast were the flocks of wild ducks and geese in 
the rivers and bays during the greater part of the year, 
that they were looked on as the least expensive portion of 
the food which the Virginians had to procure for the 
support of their families. Fish of the most delicate and 
nourishing varieties were caught with hook, or net, or 
speared at the very door ; among other kinds, the perch 
and shad, the bass, pike and sheepshead. Oysters, and 
shell fish, without previous planting, could be scraped up 
by the bushel from the bottom of the nearest inlet or 
tidal stream. 

The numerous varieties of fruit, such as apples, 



168 The Social Life of Virginia 

peaches, plums, and figs were more highly flavored than 
the same varieties grown out of doors in England, owing 
to the greater heat of the sun in Virginia, and a longer 
season in which to ripen ; so extraordinary was the quan- 
tity produced that the mere droppings of the orchards 
formed an important part of the food used in fattening 
hogs. Not only were domestic grapes cultivated in pro- 
fusion in the gardens, but there were also several excel- 
lent kinds, such as the sloe and scuppernong, which ran 
wild through the tangled brushwood springing up in 
every damp forest bottom. Such an abundance of wild 
strawberries could be gathered from the vines over- 
spreading every abandoned field, that no attempt was 
made to produce the domestic berry. The cool intervals 
between the rows of waving Indian corn were yellow 
with huge pumpkins, or green with luxuriant peas ; there 
were ten varieties of peas alone grown in Virginia, one 
of which, the black-eye, became, from an early date, a 
common article of food with persons of every class. 
There were two varieties of potatoes, the Irish and the 
sweet, both of which reached a state of perfection in a 
soil remarkable then, as now, for its adaptability to vege- 
tables. The watermelon and cymblin flourished in it to 
an even greater degree. In hominy, the roasting ear, and 
the corn pone, the Virginians possessed articles of food 
of great excellence, which were entirely unknown to the 
people of the Old World. There was produced on every 
plantation an extraordinary quantity of walnuts and 
chestnuts, hazel and hickory nuts. Honey was obtainable 
in abundance, both from domestic hives and hollow trees 
in the forest. Every variety of sweetmeat, as well as 
oranges, lemons, prunes, and raisins were imported from 
England, the West Indies, or the Azores. 

England itself, in proportion to its population, was not 



in the Seventeenth Century. 169 

more abundantly supplied with liquors of all kinds than 
Virginia, over the sea. A considerable share of these 
liquors was brewed in the Colony, where, in one year 
alone, 1644, there were six public brew-houses in opera- 
tion. By the middle of the century, home-made beer 
had become the most popular draught. Cider was con- 
sumed in almost equal quantities, and was considered by 
capable judges, to be quite as good as that expressed 
from the apples grown in the most famous orchards in 
Herefordshire; there was hardly a residence of any pre- 
tension which did not keep a supply of this liquor on 
hand; and some of the planters had as much as one hun- 
dred and fifty gallons stored away in their cellars. Perry, 
which was made from the juice of pears, was also pro- 
duced on every plantation, and drunk with as much lib- 
erality as cider. Among the most ordinary drinks was a 
punch brewed with West Indian rum, or apple or peach 
brandy ; and hardly less common was mathegalin, a mix- 
ture of honey and water in certain proportions. The 
wines most often found on the tables of the planters were 
claret, Fayal, Madeira, and Rhenish ; it was one of the 
most characteristic features of those times that the rarest 
French, Spanish, and Portuguese wines were drunk, not 
only in private residences, owned by the wealthiest per- 
sons, but also in the taverns, which were resorted to chief- 
ly by persons of the lower classes. 



XL 

Social Spirit — Hospitality of the People. 

IT is evident from the brief description which has been 
given of their commodious residences, handsome fur- 
niture, and valuable plate, of their fine clothing- and beau- 
tiful ornaments, of their abundant and varied food and 
wines, that the citizens of Virginia during the seven- 
teenth century who owned large estates, were in as ad- 
vantageous a position to entertain lavishly as their kins- 
men among the country gentlemen of England. Servants 
were numerous long before African slaves began to be 
brought in, cargo after cargo, to take the place of the 
whites, whose indentures had expired. After 1675, ne- 
groes became more and more common in the household ; 
sufficient time had now elapsed to allow a large increase 
in the number of slaves who had been born in Virginia, 
and who thus had had opportunities of receiving a careful 
domestic training in the planters' homes. At least one 
wealthy Virginian of this period, the elder William Byrd, 
complained of the number of negro servants who were 
to be found under his roof. But that they were quick in 
anticipating the wants of the planter's family, as well as 
of his guests, is shown by the many evidences which 
have survived of the affectionate relations existing be- 
tween the master and slave. One of the most ordinary 
encomiums included in the mortuary eulogy inscribed on 
so many of the tombstones of those times is that the de- 
ceased was a "kind" master or mistress; and the wills 
offer an equally eloquent, and perhaps a more trust- 



in the Seventeenth Century. 171 

worthy, proof of the loyal and devoted spirit on the one 
side, and the high appreciation in which it was held on 
the other. The provision which Daniel Parke, in 1689, 
made by will for one of his slaves was far from being ex- 
ceptional : "For the true and faithful service of one of 
my negroes, known as 'Virginia Will'," he wrote, "I leave 
him his freedom, and also fifteen bushels of clean shelled 
corn, and fifty pounds of dried beef annually as long as 
he lives; also one kersey coat and breeches, a hat and 
two pair of shoes, two pair of yarn stockings ; two white 
and blue shirts, one pair of blue drawers, one axe and one 
hoe; the same to be delivered annually." 1 

The disposition to entertain and to be entertained was 
encouraged not only by the number of trained servants 
living under the wealthy planter's roof, but also by the 
ease with which a visitor could get from house to house ; 
with hardly an exception, each of the principal residences 
was situated on a large body of water, or on a navigable 
creek communicating with such a body. The boat was 
generally the most convenient means of reaching a neigh- 
bor's home, or even a home which lay at a very consid- 
erable distance off. Born on the shores of a great stream 
like the York, or Rappahannock, the Lower James, or 
Potomac, the young Virginians of those times, as of 
these, acquired, at an early age, an extraordinary skill 
in handling a sail boat, and in making the most of every 
breath of wind that passed over the waters. One single 
sailing vessel, calling at house after house along the 
banks of a river, was able to carry a large party of merry 
pleasure-seekers to an entertainment given in some 
planter's home standing twenty or even forty miles away 
from the point where the vessel started on its voyage. If 
a different means of conveyance was preferred, there 

a York County Records, Vol. 1687-91, p. 278, Va. St. Libr. 



172 The Social Life of Virginia 

was the riding horse to bear both the male and the female 
guest to their place of destination. The rapidity and even 
the apparent recklessness with which the Virginians rode 
gave rise to an expression which became a proverb : "the 
planter's pace;" and in these journeys on horseback from 
residence to residence, the young men and women, no 
doubt, made the forests echo to the clatter of flying hoofs, 
as well as to the sound of joyous laughter. 

The seclusion of the planter's life and the remoteness 
of his home greatly stimulated his hospitable instincts. 
In the instructions which were given to Governor Yeard- 
ley, in 1626, by the English authorities, he was directed 
to see that all newcomers were, on their arrival, com- 
fortably lodged with those citizens who had been long 
established in the country; 2 but there was really little 
need for such a regulation, for if the newcomer was 
respectable, his society was considered a full return for 
the small cost of taking him in. Any person of distinc- 
tion visiting the Colony was unable to accept all the invi- 
tations extended him. Colonel Henry Norwood, who 
left England after the ruin of the royal cause, relates, in 
his account of his stay on the Eastern Shore, that there 
was much rivalry among the planters there as to who 
should feast him first and most often. 3 Norwood himself 
was made doubly interesting as a guest by all the graces 
which he had acquired at Court, by his long experience of 
the great world, and by his devotion and fidelity to his 
King. The author of Leah and Rachel, writing in 1656, 
stated that a traveller in the Colony in proceeding on his 
journey, not only incurred no charge for his entertain- 

3 British Colonial Entry Book, 1606-62, p. 259. 
8 Norwood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 48, Force's Hist. Tracts, 
Vol. III. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 173 

ment, but also was received everywhere with the heartiest 
of welcomes. "Virginia," he declared, "wants not good 
victuals, wants not good dispositions, and as God has 
freely bestowed it, they as freely impart with it." 4 It 
was only in a passing moment of panic that the county 
courts required even of innkeepers such a report as the 
one provided for in 1681 — no unknown guest of that time 
was to be allowed to remain in a tavern over a day and 
night without the host informing the nearest constable 
of the fact. 5 It was not many years since the Insurrec- 
tion, led by the younger Bacon, had been suppressed, and 
the recollection of that terrible tumult had made the 
local authorities suspicious of unknown persons wander- 
ing about the country. But this was not the feeling of 
ordinary times; in such times, the hospitality of the col- 
onists was carried to a point which reminds one of the 
Biblical age. The stranger enjoyed the right to com- 
mand every comfort in the planter's residence as if he 
proposed to pay for it; it was as if the first homes in 
every county were licensed hostelries, so generous and 
liberal was the scale of entertainment. 6 

This spirit continued until the end of the century. Bev- 
erley declared that a traveller in Virginia needed no 
other recommendation to the people than that he was a 
"human creature ;" that if he was in want of shelter and 
a meal, he had but to inquire of anyone he met on the 
road the way to the nearest gentleman's seat ; and that, 
if on his arrival there, the master was absent, he was 
certain to find that the servants had received orders to 

4 Leah and Rachel, p. 10, Force's Hist. Tracts, Vol. III. 

5 See bond of Samuel Thompson, an innkeeper, Surry County 
Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 576, Va. St. Libr. 

* Leah and Rachel, p. 19, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. III. 



174 The Social Life of Virginia 

set before strangers the very best that the plantation had 
to offer. And Beverley added that, if "there should be a 
churl that, either out of contrariness or ill nature, would 
not comply with this generous custom, he had a mark 
of infamy" attached to him, and soon discovered that 
he was an object of opprobrium to all. 7 

The welcome received at some of the inns must often 
have been distinguished for a grace and warmth superior 
to what was observed in the ordinary tavern ; for in Vir- 
ginia, as in England, some of the hostelries were kept 
by men accustomed to the most refined society of the 
communities in which they lived, but who had been 
forced by ill fortune to become purveyors to the enter- 
tainment of the public. In some cases, however, we find 
prominent and wealthy citizens entered in the records 
as "innkeepers" because taverns were among the pieces 
of property which they owned. This was probably the 
case with Thomas Cocke, who, in 1685, was licensed to 
keep a tavern in Henrico county ; and with Thomas Jor- 
dan, who, in 1674, was licensed to keep a tavern in Surry 
county. 8 

The author of "Virginia's Cure," writing about 1666, 

7 Beverley's Hist, of Virginia, p. 258. "Even the poor planters," 
remarked Beverley, "who have but one bed, will very often sit up 
or lie upon a form or couch all night to make room for a weary 
traveler to repose himself after a weary journey." 

8 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 330; Surry 
County Records, Vol. 1684-86, p. 25, Va'. St. Libr. See, also, 
Lower Norfolk County Records Orders Feby, 2, 1685-6. The Jor- 
dan family was one of the most prominent in Surry county, where 
it had been long settled. In his will, dated 1677-8, when the 
Colony was still suffering from the great upheaval of 1670, George 
Jordan prayed, " God Almighty to bless this poore Colonie, and 
this county especially, wherein I have lived forty-three years." See 
Surry Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 296, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 175 

declared, as the result of his own personal observation, that 
the Virginians were "naturally of beautiful and comely 
persons, and generally of more ingenious spirits" than 
the people of England ; 9 and the opinion formed by such 
an intelligent traveller as Hugh Jones, who visited the 
Colony many years later, was equally flattering to its 
inhabitants. 10 It is not strange that the spirit of manly 
self-reliance fostered by the independent life of the plan- 
tation, manners polished by constant intercourse with the 
best society furnished by the oldest colonial communities, 
and a natural sprightliness of mind, should have enabled 
some Virginians, even of this early period, to make a 
highly favorable impression in the most distinguished 
circles of London. The younger Daniel Parke and the 
younger William Byrd belong more distinctly to the early 
part of the eighteenth century than to the latter part of 
the seventeenth; both, however, were born in the seven- 
teenth century, and both were the products of its highest 
social influences. During their stay in England, both 
moved in the highest society of the Kingdom, and both 
appear to have won its good will. As aide to Marlbor- 
ough, Parke was chosen by that famous general to carry 
to the Queen the despatch announcing the greatest of 
his victories. Byrd was intimate with some of the most 
remarkable persons in England, and showed his versa- 
tility by securing the friendship of men belonging to 
such different types as Boyle, the scientist and philan- 
thropist, and Peterborough, the fop and soldier. The his- 
tory of his times, whether colonial or English, does not 
furnish a more charming or a more attractive figure than 
he. In possession of a large fortune, in the enjoyment 

"Virginia's Cure, p. 6, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. I IT. 
10 See Hugh Jones's "Present State of Virginia." 



176 The Social Life of Virginia 

of all that the noblest English literary culture and the 
finest school of English manners, London, could impart, 
and blessed with much that Nature implants in the hearts 
and minds of her children only in her most generous, 
lively, and stately moods, Byrd became, at an early age, 
one of the most brilliant, one of the most accomplished, 
and one of the most lovable gentlemen of his time. The 
very existence of such a man, who concentrated in him- 
self such varied claims to distinction, speaks a thousand 
times louder for the refinement and fertility of the social 
life to which he belonged, than the most elaborate 
description of its different features. 

The second Robert Beverley, who, like the younger 
William Byrd, was a native of Virginia, and like him, 
also, born many years before the end of the seventeenth 
century, was almost an equally charming product of the 
social influences of his times. His "History of Virginia," 
by which he is chiefly known, throws almost as much 
light on the general spirit of that day as the writings of 
Byrd on the general spirit of a somewhat later period. 
The fund of lurking humor which it contains, reflects the 
happy temper of his Virginian contemporaries ; there is 
in it a freshness, a spontaneity, that is characteristic of a 
youthful and growing community; a keenness and mi- 
nuteness of observation possessed only by those who, 
from their earliest childhood, have been close to nature 
in its primeval forms; a disposition to enjoy, which, 
taking all the pleasures and amusements of life as they 
come, prefers to open the eyes wide to the sunshine and 
to blink only at the clouds ; a devoted patriotism that was 
fostered by remoteness from the Old World; and a love 
of freedom and a hatred of tyranny that were nourished 
by the secluded and independent life of the large 
plantation. 



XII. 

Popular Diversions — Drinking and Dancing. 

VI T HAT were the most popular amusements of the 
» * Virginians during the seventeenth century? 
All the records go to show that their diversions, 
whether within or out of doors, differed but little from 
those of their English kindred, and that these diver- 
sions were enjoyed with all that extreme heartiness 
which distinguished the English people in all their 
sports unless they had come under the gloomy influ- 
ence of the austere fanaticism of the Puritans. In a 
former work I pointed out how far drinking in public 
was carried, and the extraordinary facilities for grati- 
fying this appetite which the taverns afforded. That 
love of hospitality for which the planters were so re- 
markable gave an additional stimulus to this proclivity 
when indulged in in the private home. The guest was 
honored by placing before him at table the best liquor 
as well as the best food which the house could furnish ; 
and in the fervor with which his health was drunk, 
glass, no doubt, followed glass with amazing rapidity. 
There were few residences which did not contain a 
great variety as well as a great quantity of wines and 
strong spirits. Reference has already been made to 
the extraordinary store of home-made liquors, like 
cider and perry, that were to be found in so many 
cellars in the Colony. The store of imported liquors 
was equally notable. For instance, in 1686 William 
Fauntleroy had in the cellar of his residence in Rappa- 
hannock county ninety gallons of rum, twenty-five gal- 



178 The Social Life of Virginia 

Ions of lime juice, and twenty dozen bottles of wine 
reserved for the use of his private table j 1 and this was 
far from being an unusually large supply of liquors 
kept on hand chiefly for the gratification of the guests 
of the house. 

One explanation of the liberal drinking both in the 
taverns and private residences was that a very large 
proportion of the population were natives of England, 
who had simply brought over to Virginia the habits 
which they had formed in the Mother Country. Per- 
haps the freest tipplers of that age were Englishmen, 
whose chill and humid climate not only encouraged 
an extraordinary consumption of liquors of all kinds, 
especially ales and beers, but also in large measure 
diminished the ill-consequences of excess. The great 
mortality which prevailed among English emigrants 
arriving in Virginia was to a marked degree attribu- 
table to this continued indulgence at the same rate as 
in England in a proclivity for which the hot climate of 
Virginia was far less well suited, even when the frame 
had become seasoned to the change. 

Governor Berkeley declared that Virginia was as 
"sober and temperate a colony, considering their qual- 
ities as was ever sent out of the kingdom," 2 by which 
he meant that the Virginian planters, on the whole, 
drank less than the English gentlemen of the same 
period ; and this was probably true, for we fail to find 
in the Virginian records for the seventeenth century 
any account comparable to the experience of John 

1 Rappahannock County Records, Vol. 1677-82, p. 80, Va. St. 
Libr. 

1 Letter of Berkeley to Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, 
July 21, 1662, British Colonial Papers, Vol. XVI., No. 78. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 179 

Evelyn, the diarist, who, on at least two occasions, 
notes that, at the houses he was visiting, it was the 
rule to ply the servants of the guests with liquor until 
they grew thoroughly intoxicated. 3 The indulgence in 
Virginia was such, however, that it became necessary 
at one time to pass a law that no debts made in buy- 
ing wines should be allowed to be sued for in court. 
According to Berkeley, this law was designed to do 
away with the imputation so often brought against the 
Virginians of drinking too hard, and also to check the 
over-readiness with which liquors were sold on credit. 
As payment of all debts was made but once a year, 
namely, at the time when the tobacco crop was shipped 
away, it was the disposition of only too many persons, 
even before the tobacco had been planted, to enter into 
impossible engagements to settle at a future date 
simply that they might supply themselves with wines 
and spirits in the present. The new law forced the 
seller to be wary in allowing most persons a larger 
quantity than they had the means of paying for at 
once. 4 But the regulation did not touch those among 
the planters whose credit was not open to question. 
Wherever a body of gentlemen, large or small, gath- 
ered together, whether it was as appraisers to fix the 
value of an estate, 5 or as commissioners to accept a 
new bridge, or as county justices to hear causes, a 
goodly supply of liquor was at hand to quench their 

8 See entries in Evelyn's Diary. 

4 Letter of Berkeley to Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, 
July 21, 1662, British Colonial Papers, Vol. XVI., No. 78. 

Ttem among charges against the estate of George Proctor, 
1678: "Three gallons of rum expended at the appraisement." 
Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 310, Va. St. Libr. 



180 The Social, Life of Virginia 

thirst. The few letters belonging to the century, like 
those of William Fitzhugh and William Byrd, the elder, 
which have survived, show the great care with which 
provision was made for preventing the stock of public 
or private wines from running too low. Many of the 
leading citizens had to pay a heavy penalty for this 
generous style of life. Gout was as common a disease 
in Virginia as in England. Colonel William Randolph 
was a sufferer from it; so were Nicholas Spencer and 
John Page, as we learn from a minute of a Council 
held in 1687, which they were for that reason unable 
to attend ; 6 so was Henry Hartwell, who on at least 
one occasion while in England was, by a violent attack, 
kept away from the meetings of the Commissioners of 
Plantations, before whom he had been summoned to 
testify. 7 

It was not always at their own tables, or in taverns, 
that the Virginians of the seventeenth century laid the 
ground for the inroads of gout and kindred physical 
ills. There is at least one recorded instance of a large 
banquetting hall having been built in one of the coun- 
ties by a little company of wealthy gentlemen. In 
1670 a formal agreement was entered into by Henry 
Corbin, Thomas Gerard, Isaac Allerton, and John Lee, 
all citizens of Westmoreland county, to erect a house in 
Pickatown field at their common expense. Lee was 
allowed ten pounds sterling, which was his share of 
the cost, for actually building it, under the supervision 
of Gerard and Allerton. Beginning May 1, 1671, each 
party to the contract in succession was to give a ban- 

6 British Colonial Entry Book, Vol. 1680-95, p. 255. 

7 Letter of HaTtwell, dated Aug. 24, 1697, B. T. Va., 1697, Vol. 
VI., p. 133. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 181 

quet in this new hall ; and he was required to invite 
to it not only all of the other parties, but also their 
wives, sweethearts, and friends. It was arranged that 
Corbin should provide the first feast; Lee was to fol- 
low Corbin; Gerard, Lee; and Allerton, Gerard; and 
then Corbin was to give his second banquet, and so on 
as before indefinitely. If a party to the contract died, 
his heirs were to take his place. That the hall was 
erected, and the series of banquets inaugurated, we 
learn from the testimony of Thomas Lee, whose father 
had been present certainly at one of them. The osten- 
sible object of this annual feast was to perpetuate 
boundary lines, but that this method was adopted was 
due, not to its superiority over the customary proces- 
sioning, but to the delightful opportunity which it gave 
for indulging the wealthy Virginian's love of social 
entertainments. 8 

As we have seen, there were few homes of these 
times in which there was not a considerable variety of 
musical instruments, and in one or two instances the 
number was sufficiently great to form almost a small 
orchestra. At many of the entertainments some 
female member of the family giving the dance, no 
doubt, furnished the music by playing on one of these 
instruments, but the county records show that, among 
the servants and slaves, there were some who were es- 
pecially valued for their skill with the fiddle, and that 
this skill was called into use on many gay occasions. 
Attached to the plantation of Captain Richard Bailey, 
of Accomac county, was a negro slave, who, by his ac- 
complishment in this respect, contributed as much to 
the diversion of the neighborhood as any person in it. 

•Va. Maga, of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VIII., pp. 171-2. 



182 The Social, Life of Virginia 

This fiddler is found taking a prominent part in a lively 
scene which occurred at the Rev. Thomas Teakle's, to 
the scandal of the whole countryside, though the epi- 
sode seems innocent enough to modern perceptions. 
Elizabeth Parker, accompanied by Samuel Doe and his 
wife, went over to Mr. Teakle's house to visit his 
daughter while he was away. They carried the negro 
boy with them, and after their arrival it occurred to 
the little company that it would be pleasant in the op- 
portune absence of the clergyman to have a dance. 
The fiddle which had been left behind was sent for, 
and the dancing began. While it was going on, one 
James Fairfax came for the boy, but Elizabeth Parker 
made him abandon his purpose by informing him 
with some temper that she had borrowed the fiddler 
of her sister, Ursula Bailey, his owner. She, how- 
ever, declared that the boy should not go unrewarded 
for his playing, and she pulled out her purse and gave 
him a Spanish piece of eight. She also persuaded 
Fairfax to remain and take part in the dance. 

Some one present seems to have reproached Marga- 
ret Teakle for "undutifulness of carriage and de- 
meanor" towards Mr. Teakle "by making feast in his 
absence," but Elizabeth urged her to disregard her 
father, whose strict notions as to what were proper 
amusements she probably scorned and despised, and 
to take advantage of his not being in the house to en- 
joy herself. Mr. Teakle, who, though a clergyman, 
was a man of wealth, was engaged to be married to one 
of Elizabeth Parker's kinsfolks, "and a proud woman 
she was," exclaimed the fair tempter, "and wore 
fringes at the binding of her petticoat!" Margaret 
Teakle seems to have yielded only too readily to her 



in the Seventeenth Century. 183 

friend's urgent appeal, and at once fetched the silk 
with which the fiddler might string his instrument; 
and as a reward for his playing gave him several yards 
of ribbon as well as several yards of lace, all of which, 
no doubt, greatly touched the negro's sense of finery. 
The dance started on Saturday night, and continued 
with spirit until nearly eleven o'clock on the next Sab- 
bath morning. The company consisted of Elizabeth 
Parker, Jane Hall, Margaret Teakle, James Fairfax, 
and John Addison. In one interval of the dancing 
Margaret Teakle led her friends upstairs to show them 
her wedding gaiters. They seem to have overhauled 
the contents of her trunk, and among the articles 
which she presented to Elizabeth Parker were thread 
laces and ribbons, and also a muslin cap adorned with 
a yard of fine lace. When Mr. Teakle returned home 
a few days afterwards, and was informed of the dese- 
cration of his house by a dance on the Sabbath day, 
even during the hour when services at church were in 
progress, he was greatly scandalized, and at the next 
meeting of the county court formally presented Eliza- 
beth Parker and her husband. 9 

This scene at Mr. Teakle's home throws an enter- 
taining light on the gay spirit of the young Virginians 
of both sexes, who were ready to divert themselves 
on the most unexpected occasions, and who some- 
times carried their love of amusement to a point that 
was well calculated to shock the piety of their elders. 
It was only by the indignant action of Mr. Teakle in 

•Accomae County "Records, Vol. ir.00-07. p. 101, ct. srq. Tenklo. 
resented especially Mre. Parker's acceptance of the crifts of his 
daughter, and endeavoured to make out that the articles had been 
improperly taken away from liis hou 



184 The Social , Life of Virginia 

having the main culprit indicted that this special inci- 
dent is preserved for us, but similar instances of dances 
begun on the moment must have been of frequent oc- 
currence, and have done much to brighten the social 
life of the Colony. Nor was dancing occurring on a 
Sunday a great rarety, though it never went unpun- 
ished. Among the indictments at one term of the 
court of Princess Anne county in i6gi J 2 three were 
for fiddling and dancing on the Sabbath. 10 This did 
not show so much a disregard of the religious charac- 
ter of the day as a survival of the old English cus- 
toms, which permitted the indulgence in a great va- 
riety of amusements after the hour of services in 
church had passed. 11 The authorities, however, were 
not as tolerant of these customs in Virginia as they 
would probably have been in England. 

The taste for dancing did not content itself with 
such skill as could be acquired by the ordinary par- 
ticipation in this form of amusement. There is some 
evidence of the presence in the Colony of dancing 
masters who gave lessons in the art professionally^ 
One of these was Charles Cheate, who was accom- 
panied by his servant, Clason Wheeler, a fiddler. They 

10 Princess Anne County Records, Vol. 1691-1709, p. 34. In 1698, 
William Johnson, of Accomac, was fined for a like offence. See 
Accomac County Records, Vol. 1679-1705, folio p. 43. The offenders 
in Princess Anne county were Peter Crashley and his wife, and 
Thomas Dob'bs. 

11 The Declaration of Sports, allowing games and the like after 
religious services on Sunday was reissued by Charles I. in 1633, 
but in 1643, when the Puritans had obtained the supremacy, the 
document was publicly burnt, and all sports and amusements on 
tne Sabbath forbidden. See Traill's Social England, Vol. IV, for 
some account of the change. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 185 

appear to have taken an active part on the popular side 
in the Insurrection of 1676, and when it failed, fled to 
New England for safety, a harbor of refuge, however, 
in which their ability to teach their art was not likely 
to assist them in earning a livelihood. 12 Cheate, and 
men following the same calling, hardly confined them- 
selves in Virginia to instructions in dancing. It is 
quite probable that they were also able to secure large 
fees by serving as musicians at the entertainments so 
frequently given in the planters' residences. Their 
skill in performing on various instruments must have 
been superior to that of a slave fiddler like the one 
owned by Captain Richard Bailey, or to that of most 
of the planters' wives and daughters, whose opportu- 
nities of becoming proficient were necessarily rather 
limited. 

"Boston (Mass.) Town Records, July 29, 1G7S. 



XIII. 
Popular Diversions — Acting and Games. 

THROUGHOUT the seventeenth century the 
opinion prevailed among the great body of Eng- 
lish-speaking people that play-acting was repugnant 
to good morals. In a prayer promulgated for the in- 
fant plantation in Virginia in 1612, and in that year 
published, actors are referred to as belonging to the 
"scum and dregs of the earth." x If there was any un- 
dertaking to have a play performed in the Colony pre- 
vious to 1665, no record of the fact has survived, but 
in 1665, when the Stuart dynasty had been restored to 
the throne in England, and the theatre was fast becom- 
ing one of the most popular as well as one of the most 
disreputable institutions in the kingdom, a play known 
as "Ye Bare and ye Cubb" was acted on the Eastern 
Shore by three citizens of Accomac county, Cornelius 
Wilkinson, Philip Howard, and William Darby by 
name. As soon as the report of this having taken place 
reached the ears of the King's attorney, John Faw- 
sett, he summoned them to court, where each was sub- 
jected to a rigid cross examination. At this session the 
justices contented themselves with ordering the cul- 
prits to appear at the next meeting of the court in the 
habiliments which they had worn in acting the alleged 
play, and they were also required to bring with them 
for inspection a copy of the "verses, speeches, and pas- 
sages" which they had declaimed on that occasion. 

1 Neill's Virginia Caroloium, p. 315. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 187 

The justices must have found the performance to have 
been of a very innocent character, for they directed 
the three men to be discharged and the person who had 
informed on them to pay all the expenses of the pre- 
sentment. 2 

The leniency exhibited in this case shows that, if 
a spirit of strong opposition to play-acting had pre- 
viously prevailed in the Colony, which was not un- 
likely during the Puritan Supremacy, only recently 
ended, that spirit had now passed away, or the justices 
at least were determined not to countenance it when 
the play itself contained nothing damaging to public 
morality. At a time when the English theatre had not 
only been revived, but also was allowed a degree of 
license without precedent on account of the reaction 
against Puritan strictness and austerity, it would have 
been remarkable had Virginia, the Colony most in 
sympathy with English feeling, condemned in a Puri- 
tan spirit all play-acting as in itself wicked and op- 
posed to good morals, however devoid the play itself 
might be of any passages to give offense even to the 
most rigid censor. The large number of Cavaliers who 
had settled in Virginia were, no doubt, ready at all 
hours to throw their strong social influence against 
so narrow and illiberal a view had it prevailed ; and 
led by the powerful Governor, Berkeley himself, a 
playwright of no mean ability, they were certain to 
create a sentiment in favor of play-acting to the ex- 
tent to which alone it was possible to carry it in the 
Colony, i. e., a performance on a very small scale by 
amateurs in the private drawing-room of a plantation 
residence. It is quite probable that this form of amuse- 

•Accomac County Records, Vol. 1G63-66, folio p. 102. 



188 The Social y Life of Virginia 

ment was often indulged in in this small way during 
the long period following the Restoration when the 
theatre had become the most popular resort for diver- 
sion in the Mother Country, a fact thoroughly well 
known to contemporary Virginians, not only by corre- 
spondence with relatives in England, but also from 
the accounts given by the numerous emigrants of the 
higher class annually arriving, as well as by the many 
persons returning to the Colony after a visit over sea. 
Among the chief amusements of the Virginians dur- 
ing the seventeenth century was the game of nine- 
pins, played either in alleys specially built for the pur- 
pose, or in large rooms in private residences. As 
early as 1636 William Ward, of Accomac county, is 
found participating in a game of this kind which took 
place at the house of John Dunn, and the diversion 
proved so absorbing that he is reported to have spent 
the whole day engaged in it. 3 Ten-pins was one of the 
diversions provided for guests at all the taverns, and 
it was made more exciting by betting. For instance, 
in 1681 Robert Sharpe and Richard Robine, of Henrico 
county, laid a wager of four hundred pounds of to- 
bacco on the issue of a game of thirty-one up. Robine 
had been drinking quite heavily, and this probably led 
Thomas Cocke, Jr., who was present, to decline to 
serve as marksman. Three games were won by 
Sharpe and two by Robine, and then the playing was 
stopped for a time ; and when resumed, two games 
were won by Robine, one after another. A dispute 
now arose as to the payment of the wager, which was 
afterwards submitted to a jury called together by the 

3 Accomac County Eecords, Vol. 1032-40, p. 59, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 189 

county court. This game was played in a ten-pin 
alley that probably formed a part of the tavern owned 
by the elder Cocke 4 . A game which took place in 
Northampton county in 1693 was played in a private 
residence. Joseph Godwin, the son of the owner of the 
house, bet his opponent that he would tip seven pins, 
but only succeeded in tipping five. A quarrel arose 
over the payment of the wager, and a violent scuffle 
ensued, which seems to have brought the two parties 
to it into court. 8 

Betting even on the most trifling issues was one of 
the most popular diversions, and under certain cir- 
cumstances does not appear to have been discounte- 
nanced by the county courts. The rule seems to have 
been for the justices, when the question of a wager 
was brought before them, to refer the matter in dis- 
pute to a jury. Such was the course followed in a 
case involving a bet of five pounds sterling which, in 
1688, was made between Thomas Chamberlaine and 
James Brain, of Henrico county. 6 If the question 
to be decided was one calling for some learning, the 
court appears to have settled it on their own responsi- 
bility. For example, in 1687, in a suit between Cap- 
tain William Stone and John Brodnax, as to whether 
Brodnax could be compelled to pay five hundred 
pounds of tobacco which he had lost in betting on the 

* Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 191. 

5 Northampton County Records, Vol. 16S0-08, p. 263. Seta oi 
ten-pins are frequently mentioned in the difToieiit inventories t""i 
instance, among the contents of the store of William Porter, of 
Lower Norfolk county, in 1693, was a "sett of playing bowls." See 
Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, p. 199*. 

•Henrico County Minute Book 1682-1701, p. 190, Va. St. Libr. 



190 The Social Life of Virginia. 

relative weight of gold and quicksilver, a solemn judg- 
ment was delivered by the Henrico county court on 
the point involved. 7 The subject of the wager was 
sometimes even more abstruse. For example, about 
1690, Thomas East and Richard Ligon, of Henrico 
county, made a bet as to how much "one thousand foot 
square solid" contained. If the two should differ as 
to what was the correct amount, it was agreed that the 
matter should be referred to Colonel William Byrd 
and Mr. John Pleasants, the latter the most prominent 
Quaker in the Colony, whose decision was to be ac- 
cepted as final. 8 

Some justices appear to have taken the ground that 
a bet could have no standing in court because it was 
unlawful to indulge in gaming; 9 and in the same year 
in which a judgment was delivered to this effect in 
Richmond county we find that the bonds of tavern 
keepers in the neighbouring county of Essex required 
that no unlawful betting should be allowed to go on 
in their inns. 10 Where, however, money had been 
staked down, or a formal contract drawn up, as the 
law of that day directed, and the subject of the wager 
was not destructive of public morality, or injurious to 
other people's property, the bet seems to have been, 
as a rule, upheld. In a case occurring in Henrico 
county about 1690 the attorney for the defendant, 
Edward Chilton, expressly pleaded that his client was 
not responsible, though he had lost, simply because 
neither of these provisions had been followed by the 

7 Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701. p. 163, Va. St. Libr. 

8 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-79, p. 261, Va. St. Libr. 
•Richmond County Records for 1694, orig., p. 30. 

10 Essex County Records, Vol. 1692-95, p. 355, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 191 

parties ; and the Court promptly sustained the conten- 
tion. 11 

There are numerous references to dice playing in the 
county records, a game very popular with those who 
gamble, 12 whilst the references to card playing occur 
with even greater frequency. Packs of cards are 
among the most common forms of property included 
among the items in the inventories of personal estates! 
In 1665 Captain Jeremiah Fisher owned as many as 
nine packs, 13 and a few years later Jonathan Newell as 
many as eight. 14 Both were citizens of York county. 
That the cards found in the plantation residences were 
in constant use is shown by numerous contemporary 
evidences. For instance, in 1678 the grand jury of 
Henrico county, a county, owing to its situation on 
the frontier, somewhat remarkable for laxness of 
morals, presented Joseph Royall because, by his own 
confession, he had played cards on the Sabbath. 15 
Three years afterwards John Hayward, of York 
county, acknowledged in court that, while staying at 
the house of James Pardoe, he and his companions fell 
to drinking, and after drinking all day began, when 

"Henrico County Minute Book, 1G82-1701, p. 279, Va. St. Libr. 

'-"Charles Stewart and Giles Webb play dice and Giles vrins 
500 lbs. of tobacco." This was in 1G85. Sec Henrico County 
Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 313. 

In I6i9. the General Assembly passed an act prohibiting gamb- 
ling with dice and cards. The winner was to forfeit his gains, 
whilst the winner and loser were each required to pay a fine of 
ten shillings. 

"York County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 23, Va. St. Libr. 

"York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. L39. 

"See Henrico County Records for 1678. 



192 The Social Life of Virginia. 

night came on, a game of cards, which ended in a vio- 
lent quarrel. Pardoe and Hayward, going to bed in 
the room where the liquor was kept, resumed their 
drinking, and the game and quarrel seemed to have 
been forgotten. 16 

The favorite game of cards was known as put. Put 
was played, not only by citizens of the highest social 
rank in the community, but also by the domestic and 
agricultural servants, who belonged to the lowest. In 
1686 we find John Marshall, a former servant of Mr. 
John Gawin, of York county, engaged in a game with 
Joseph Bascom, in which the latter lost a wager of 
five pounds sterling, a sum equal in purchasing power 
to one hundred and twenty-five dollars in American 
currency, a proof of how far the gambling went even 
among persons of very moderate means. 1 ^, In the 
course of the same year a game took place between 
Captain Soane and Richard Dearlove, of Henrico 
county, in which ten puts were played for a stake of 
fifteen hundred pounds of tobacco. Soane was suc- 
cessful, but as Dearlove refused to pay when called 
upon, a suit was entered against him in court. 18 In 
1690 Allanson Clerk, of the same county, who had won 
four pounds sterling of Peter Rowlett in a game of 
put, was thrown out of court because, when the game 
was played, no sum was placed in the hands of a stake- 
holder, or regular contract to pay such a sum was 
drawn up, as required by law to give the betting a 
legal footing. 19 A game of cards which was played in 

16 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 328. 
"York County Records, Vol. 1684-7, p. 144, Va. St. Libr. 
18 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 300. 
"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 279, Va'. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 193 

the house of Mrs. Judith Randolph, a lady of the high- 
est social position, between Mr. John Piggott and Mr. 
Charles Featherstone, led to angry words, and finally 
to a suit in court for the amount of the wager involved. 
The stakes do not seem to have been high, as the total 
winnings of Featherstone, the successful party, did not 
exceed fifteen half crowns. In the course of the game 
two bottles of liquor were consumed. Piggott appears 
to have been especially fond of gambling. In 1682 he 
is found engaged in a game of cross and pile with 
Martin Elam and John Milner in Elam's house. The 
stakes were partly coin and partly tobacco ; and, con- 
trary to his experience at Mrs. Randolph's, Piggott 
was successful ; but not quite as successful as he sup- 
posed, for, though he had won only three hundred 
pounds of tobacco, he claimed on the morning follow- 
ing the game that he had won seven hundred pounds. 20 

20 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., pp. 28, 224. 



XIV. 
Popular Diversions — Horse Racing. 

THE most popular form of amusement in Virginia 
during the seventeenth century was the horse- 
race, and in those times, as in these, the pastime led 
to much betting. It was looked upon as a sport in 
which only gentlemen could take part, although mem- 
bers of every class in the community were represented 
among the spectators. In 1673, James Bullock, a tailor 
residing in York county, was fined one hundred pounds 
of tobacco for his almost unprecedented presumption 
in running his mare in a race with a horse belonging 
to Mr. Mathew Slader for a wager of two thousand 
pounds of tobacco. The county justices sitting upon 
the case solemnly pronounced his act to be contrary 
to law on the ground that racing with horses was a 
"sport for gentlemen alone" in which no laboring man 
could legally take part. 1 There are few incidents re- 
corded in the early history of Virginia which throw a 
greater flood of light on the rigidity of the social di- 
visions in the community than this incident of the un- 
fortunate tailor, who, after winning the race, found 
that he had no standing in the court because the loser 
of the wager happened to belong to a higher social 
grade. It also shows the very great esteem in which 
horse racing was held in the Colony, and the determi- 
nation to confine the sport as far as possible to. the 
class who could give it the highest degree of distinc- 
tion. 

1 York County Records, Vol. 1671-94, p. 34, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 195 

Horse-races appear to have taken place in all parts 
of the Colony, although perhaps more frequently oc- 
curring in those parts which had been settled longest, 
and which, therefore, were the most thickly inhabited. 
The persons residing on the Eastern Shore who were 
fond of this pastime do not seem to have participated 
only in races on their own side of the bay. In 1674 
Richard Awburne and Isaac Jacob, both citizens of 
Northampton county, undertook to run their horses 
in a race which was to come off on the Western Shore. 
The stake, formally arranged between Awburne and 
John Panewell, amounted to four hundred pounds of 
tobacco. Not satisfied with this race, Awburne and 
Jacob are found a few days later running their horses 
in another heat, but, it seems, on a track situated in 
their own county. This appears, however, to have 
been a private race ; but in a third in which Jacob took 
part there were many other persons present as specta- 
tors, among them a number of women, whose interest 
in the issue was doubtless as keen as that of the men. 
These races in Northampton county came off on 
ground known as Smith's Field, where a track had 
been carefully laid off. Jacob, who was probably a 
Jew. appears so often in the records as taking part in 
horse-races, not restricting himself, as we have seen, 
to the Eastern Shore, that it is quite possible he was a 
professional trainer. 2 

Nowhere in the Colony did horse-races occur more 
often than in the lower counties of the Northern Neck. 

8 See Northampton County Records, Vol. 1664-1674, p. 269. 
Chere ie an allusion in these records to the "fall races" I L674), 
as though races were held at that season regularly. See Vol. ltiTl- 
79, p. 4. 



196 The Social Life of Virginia. 

Here they seem to have taken place most frequently 
on Saturday, perhaps because the afternoon of that 
day was observed, as in England, as a half holiday. 
In 1696 a complaint was made to the House of Bur- 
gesses by numerous citizens of Northumberland that 
the celebration of the races on Saturday very often led 
to the profanation of the Sabbath, possibly because, in 
the ardor with which the sport was pursued, the rac- 
ing was resumed the following morning, regardless of 
the sacred character of the day; or more probably 
what had begun on Saturday as a horse-race ended 
on Sunday as a drinking and fighting bout. 3 That 
these races were attended by a concourse of spectators 
is shown by the fact that such occasions were always 
used by the public authorities in making announce- 
ments to the people. 4 

The principal racing track in the Northern Neck was 
known as the Coan Race Course, which was situated 
in Westmoreland county. Persons residing in the 
neighboring counties seem to have often preferred this 
course to one much nearer to them. For instance, in 
1694 Captain Rodham Kenner, who was the high 
sheriff of Northumberland, left that county to try on 
the Coan track the running powers of a mare named 
Folly against those of Smoker, owned by Mr. Joseph 
Humphrey. The stake agreed upon amounted to fif- 
teen hundred pounds of tobacco. Folly, which really 
belonged to Mr. Peter Contanceau, won the race, al- 
though Smoker was one of the most famous race- 
horses in the Colony. Humphrey claimed that Smoker 

3 Minutes of House of Burgesses, Sept. 30, 1696, B. T., Va. 
Vol. LII. 

4 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VIII., p. 130. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 197 

had not been fairly beaten because the jockey riding 
him had held his bridle tightly in order to diminish 
his speed; but when this assertion was submitted to a 
jury they promptly decided in favor of Kenner. Still 
dissatisfied, Humphrey obtained an injunction against 
further proceedings on the common law side of the 
court until a point of equity involved in the case had 
been passed on in chancery; and when this also went 
against him, carried his cause up to the General Court 
on appeal. 5 The persistency shown by Humphrey 
was due not so much to a sense of the injustice which 
he thought had been done him, as to his extreme jeal- 
ousy in preserving the reputation of his horse, a repu- 
tation which perhaps touched him as closely as his 
own. The whole case illustrates the serious spirit in 
which the most ordinary horse-race at this time was 
run, and how little the expense of a suit was consid- 
ered if it would remove from a favorite animal the dis- 
credit of defeat. At a later date we find Humphrey 
and Kenner engaged in a second race. In 1695 
Smoker was run in a race on the same track against 
Prince, a horse belonging to Mr. John Haynie, and 
won. The wager in this instance was fixed at four 
thousand pounds of tobacco and forty shillings. 7 

Some years previous to this race one had been run, 
apparently on the Coan Race Course, between the 
horse of Mr. John Stone, of Rappahannock county, 
and the horse of Mr. Yewell, of Westmoreland. The 
stake amounted to ten pounds sterling, or to two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars in our present currency. That 
this race was not simply a private trial of speed in 

"Northumberland County Records Orders, Jan'y 17. 1693-4. 
"Northumberland County Records Orders, Jany 17, 1693-4. 
'Northumberland County Records Orders, Aug. 22 a L695. 



198 The Social Life of Virginia. 

which only the jockeys and owners of the two horses 
were present is shown by the fact mentioned in the 
record of the event that there were many people in at- 
tendance as spectators. Mr. Stone's horse carried off 
the wager, but it was only after a suit that Mr. Yewell 
consented to make payment. 8 Yewell, who was deeply 
interested in this branch of sport, appeared again and 
again in the courts either as plaintiff or defendant in 
dispute as to the winning or loss of stakes. In 1688 a 
very important suit was tried before the justices of 
Westmoreland county involving a number of races in 
which John Hartridge and John Washington, on one 
side, and John Baker and Yewell, on the other, had 
participated. After all the various evidences for and 
against had been formally presented the jury left the 
court room and proceeded to the race track, which they 
examined with great care in order to obtain a more in- 
telligent understanding of the testimony which they 
had just heard. But, nevertheless, they were unable 
to agree on a verdict. When the court was informed 
of that fact, the sheriff was ordered to keep them in 
confinement without bread, drink, candle, or fire until 
they should reach a decision. 9 

The race-track in Richmond county was known as 
Willoughby's Old Field. This designation probably 
shows the character of the ground on which most of 
the courses of that day were laid off. Land which had 
long been under cultivation, but had finally been aban- 
doned to the native grasses, was not unsuited for a 
race-track. The plough had left the surface of the soil 
in a measure in a state of uniform evenness, whilst the 
rough, thick turf gave it both spring and compactness. 

8 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-77, folio p. 211. 

9 Westmoreland County Records Orders, Jan'y 11, 1687-8. The 



in the Seventeenth Century. 199 

Only the animal use of the grubbing hoe and axe, how- 
ever, could prevent the course itself, as well as the rest 
of the field, from springing up, in a few years, in 
masses of tangled briars and thickets of cedar and 
sassafras ; that this was not suffered to take place is 
shown by the great length of time during which races 
were run over the same ground. There is reason to 
think that the popular race tracks were kept in good 
condition continuously; and that as careful attention 
was given them as to the principal highways in the 
county. 

Among the earliest races recorded of Willoughby's 
Old Field was one which took place there in the year 
1693. On this occasion there seem to have been 
numerous horses entered for the stakes, whilst the at- 
tendance of spectators deeply interested in the upshot 
of the different heats was evidently extraordinary. 
Among those who had come to the course was Mr. 
John Gardiner, of Westmoreland county; and he had 
brought with him a horse celebrated in all that region 
named Young Fire, which must have been a conspicu- 
ous object even among that group of picked animals, 
for it was of the purest white in color. During the 
progress of the first races of the day, Gardiner kept 
Young Fire in the background, as if wishing first to 
observe the powers of his possible competitors; then, 
when several races had been run, in which all the 
other horses perhaps had taken part and shown what 
they were equal to, Gardiner suddenly led Young Fire 
forth and boldly challenged the owner of any horse on 
the track to run his steed in a race for a stake of one 
thousand pounds of tobacco and twenty shillings in 
coin. Daniel Sullivant, borrowing Mr. John Baker's 



200 The Social Life of Virginia. 

bay horse, which perhaps had exhibited its superiority 
to the other horses in the races that had already taken 
place, promptly accepted the guage, and it was agreed 
to try the white and the bay, the one against the other, 
instantly. Mr. Raleigh Travers became the security 
for the payment of the wager, whilst Mr. John 
Clemens and Captain William Barber were selected 
to stand at the poles in order to report the name of the 
winning horse. At the end of the race a dispute arose 
as to whether the wager had been fairly lost and won, 
and it was only finally settled by a suit in court. 10 

A third race course in the Northern Neck, hardly 
less well known or less frequently used than the Coan 
and the Willoughby Old Field tracks, was' the one sit- 
uated at Yeocomico. Here, in 1694, the race-horse 
Smoker turns up again, no longer belonging to Mr. 
Joseph Humphrey, but to Captain Rodham Kenner, 
whose Folly had defeated Smoker, as we have seen, in 
a race on the Coan Race Course a few months before. 
Kenner had, perhaps, in his admiration for the speed 
which the horse had displayed on that occasion, pur- 
chased him, but quite certainly only at a very high 
price. In the race at Yeocomico, Smoker was run 
against Campbell, a horse belonging to Captain John 
Hartley. The stake agreed upon was five hundred and 
seventy-seven pounds of tobacco, and the stretch was 
for a quarter and a half-quarter of a mile. Campbell 
soon showed himself to be so superior in speed to 
Smoker that his rider was not required to ply either 
whip or spur, and he was about to pass in between the 

10 Westmoreland County Records, Orders, April 7, 1693. The 
name appearing in this entry was either Hartridge or Hartley. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 201 

poles first, when Richard Kenner, a brother of Rodham, 
who had been told to stand back lest his nearness 
should frighten the horses, rushed forward and with a 
loud "bellow and shout," and a violent waving of his 
hat, caused Campbell to shy suddenly from the track, 
and thus technically to lose the race. Richard Ken- 
ner was arrested for his offense, and tried by a jury, 
but seems to have been acquitted. 11 This incident 
forms an additional proof of the serious spirit in which 
even the most casual horse-race was run, and the pop- 
ular determination that it should be conducted with 
perfect fairness, even if the assistance of the courts 
had to be invoked. 

The race-course in Rappahannock was situated "at 
Rappahannock Church," to use the words of the 
records. The nearness to each other of race track and 
church edifice reveals how tolerant the religious au- 
thorities of these early times were towards this popu- 
lar amusement; and it is not entirely a remote proba- 
bility that on this Rappahannock course the young 
men, after the services were over on Sunday, tested the 
comparative speed of their horses, though unlikely 
that any formal racing took place. In 1676 a great 
race came off on this track between the horses of 
Robert Vaulx, Clement Trellman, and John Meader, 
which doubtless drew together a large number of spec- 
tators. 12 The course was still in good condition eight 
years later, for, in 1684, Mr. Alexander Swann and 
Mr. George Parkes competed on this ground for a 
stake of eleven pounds sterling, which had been placed 

" Westmoreland County Records, Orders, Aug. 29, L694. 
12 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1665-77, p. 264. 



202 The Social Life of Virginia. 

in the hands of Mr. Thomas Harwar, who was also 
present. A dispute arose as to whose horse had 
really won. One of the persons who had been chosen 
to act as a judge in the race declared that "Mr. Swann's 
horse, the black, had it of Mr. Parkes's, the gray," by 
at least half a head. This testimony decided the case 
when it first came into the county court. Parkes was 
ordered to pay all the costs and Harwar to deliver up 
to Swann the stake ; but the case was brought up a 
second time, apparently at the instance of a second 
judge in the race, who was prevented from being pres- 
ent at the first trial. This judge testified that, instead 
of the black horse winning over the gray by half a 
head the gray had won over the black by that length. 
As the evidence was so directly conflicting, the court 
ordered the money, which was still in the hands of the 
stakeholder, to be returned to the persons depositing 
it, after a sum had been reserved sufficient to meet the 
expenses entailed by the first trial. These, it seemed, 
amounted to over two pounds sterling. 13 

The principal race-course in Surry county was 
known as the "Devil's Field"; 14 and this, like Wil- 
loughby's Old Field, in Richmond county, was, no 
doubt, one of those large patches of ground formerly 
under cultivation, but now abandoned to a coarse turf 
well adapted to become the floor of a primitive race- 
track. In 1678 a race was run on this course between 
a mare and a horse, the one belonging to Mr. George 
Proctor, the other to John Price. Two judges, as 
usual, were selected to decide as to which animal won. 

13 Rappahannock County Records, Orders, March 5, 1684-5; 
Aug. 5, 1685. 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 133, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 203 

These were Thomas Barlowe and Thomas Adams; 
but instead of the goal being defined by two poles set 
up on opposite sides of the track it was agreed that it 
should be represented by a path which crossed the 
course at a certain point. The animal passing over 
this path first was to be taken as the winning one. The 
upshot of the race was one of those lively wrangles 
which were so very common in the racing at this 
period because the heats were so often run without 
the strict arrangements adopted wherever the sport 
was conducted with great precision and formality. 
One of the judges, after swearing that Price's horse 
"did come over the path some time before the mare," 
declared himself unable to say whether "the horse did 
carry his rider upon his back over the path, for Price 
did stop his horse in the path, or rather the fore parte 
of the horse over the path ; the horse turning about, 
Price turned himself off from the horse's back, hang- 
ing his arms on the necke of ye horse ; the first foote 
that came to the ground was on the path, the other be- 
side it." The judge who uttered these words was evi- 
dently, not only a close observer, but also had a nice 
sense of what constituted a clean victory in a horse- 
race. Each of the principals seems to have acted as 
his own jockey. 15 Probably, most owners of race- 
horses during the seventeenth century, if very young 
men, were always ready to mount their own steeds for 
a heat. There are many indications that, even in these 
early times, the Virginians were bold and even reck- 
less riders, and there was perhaps no form of excite- 
ment in which they indulged more ardently than in 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1071-S4, p. L33, Va. St. Libr. 



204 The Social Life of Virginia. 

careering around a race-track, with a half dozen com- 
petitors careering before or behind them. 

Henrico county was hardly second to Westmoreland 
in the lively favor in which its inhabitants held the 
pastime of horse racing. One of the most popular race- 
tracks in this county was situated at Bermuda Hun- 
dred, among the oldest settlements in the valley of the 
lower James River. Here in July, 1678, a race was 
run between horses belonging to Mr. Abram Womack 
and Mr. Richard Ligon. In this instance the owners 
did not ride their horses. One was ridden by Thomas 
Cocke, the other by Joseph Tanner, a servant of Mr. 
Thomas Chamberlaine, both of whom were still mere 
boys. Chamberlaine was selected to call out when 
the horses were ready to run, whilst Mr. Abram 
Childers was to act as starter. As no judges appear 
to have been named, it is probable that the horses 
were to career over a circular course with the goal 
situated at the point from which the race began. The 
persons there would thus be easily able to decide as 
to which horse won. The horses made a rush, but the 
one ridden by Cocke, after running four or five lengths, 
shied from the track. Cocke quickly reining him in, 
cried out: "This is not a fair start." Chamberlaine 
shouted to his servant, who was riding the other 
horse, to stop, but the young man, when he returned, 
boldly declared that the race was fairly begun, and in 
this contention was sustained by Mr. Childers. 16 

Both Ligon and Womack seem to have been deeply 
interested in horse racing. In 1683 a number of per- 
sons who had assembled at Womack's house on some 

"Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 38, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 205 

convivial occasion 17 got into an animated discourse on 
the subject, and soon there was a challenge from one 
of the company, Edward Hatcher, to run his horse 
against the horse of Edward Martin, who was also 
present. All exclaimed loudly : "Done, done," with the 
exception of Richard Ligon, who started up eagerly 
"Mr. Edward Hatcher," called out Ligon, "my horse 
shall not run any more to-day or to-night." Hatcher, 
uttering a great oath, shouted back that it was his 
horse, not Ligon's, and at once led the animal off to a 
pasture near by, where the races took place, followed 
by Andrew Martin. Ligon now came up, and seizing 
Hatcher as he was about to mount, said again: "Ed- 
ward Hatcher, this is my horse, and he shall not run." 
Hatcher, seeing Ligon's determination, turned to the 
persons who were to act as judges, and exclaimed: 
"I can't help it," meaning that he was prevented from 
carrying out his agreement, and, therefore, should not 
be held as liable for the wager as if his horse had lost 
the race. But the judges refused to listen to him, and 
directed Martin to run over the track alone. When he 
reached the end of the course, he stopped, dismounted, 
and fixed his knife in the ground ; then, returning to 
the starting point, claimed the horse which Ligon had 
asserted to be his own. This was probably the stake. 
Ligon, however, still refused to give it up, and the dis- 
pute finally found its way into the county court. 18 The 
account of this race which appears in the records is of 
interest as showing how rigid the judges in a horse 
race at this period were in upholding the terms of an 

"The company, it would appear from Ligon's words regal-ding 
his horse, had been engaged in running races. 

"Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 254. 



206 The Social Life of Virginia. 

agreement even under circumstances when, it would 
seem, the agreement should properly have been con- 
sidered no longer in force. Hatcher was held strictly 
to his verbal contract, though the action of Ligon had 
made it impossible for him to perform his part of it. 

A second race-course in Henrico county was situ- 
ated at Varina, and here races seem to have been run 
at regular intervals. Among those taking place on 
this course was one between the horses of the younger 
Thomas Batte and Richard Parker. The stake con- 
sisted of one hundred pounds of tobacco, but the fair- 
ness of the race was disputed by Batte because, as he 
asserted, Parker's mare had crossed in front of his 
horse and so thwarted his progress in the race as to 
prevent his coming in ahead. When the point was 
submitted to the county court, that body found that 
the only satisfactory way of settling the difficulty was 
to order that a new heat between the mare and horse 
should take place on exactly the same course. The 
justices, it seems, held their sessions at Varina, and it 
is quite probable that they attended the second race 
in a body. Whether they did or not, however, their 
decision was, no doubt, regarded with great popular 
favor as affording a second opportunity of enjoying 
the most exciting of all Virginian pastimes, a horse- 
race. 19 

There are numerous proofs that many other im- 
portant races occurred on the course at Varina to- 
wards the close of the seventeenth century. Here, 
about 1687, a great race took place between the horses 
of Hugh Ligon and Stephen Cocke, in which Christo- 

10 Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 242, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 207 

pher Branch was the stakeholder; 20 and in the same 
year a race was run in which a horse belonging to 
Henry Randolph participated. 21 In 1687, also, Giles 
Webb won a heavy wager of John Huddlesey. 22 In 
the following year William Eppes recovered in the 
county court twenty shillings which Stephen Cocke 
had refused to pay, on the ground of some irregularity 
in the race on which that amount had been bet. 23 In 
1690 Captain William Soane entered a suit against 
Mr. Robert Napier for ten pounds sterling, which he 
claimed to have won by default at Varina. The most 
important witness was the distinguished clergyman, 
Rev. James Blair, who requested the court to allow 
him to deliver his testimony simply on the word of a 
priest. Having acted as the endman for Captain Soane, 
he deposed that Napier had brought his horse to the 
race-track, but before the time agreed upon for the 
heat had led him away. The horse which had been 
chosen to run against Napier's, a white in color, was 
a sorrel owned by Mr. Littlebury Eppes. Eppes, as 
we have seen, had been sheriff of the county. Among 
the other deponents in this case were Captain William 
Randolph and Benjamin Harrison. Indeed, the men 
interested in it, whether as principals or witnesses, 

20 See Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, pp. 170, 174, 
Va. St. Libr.; Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 466. The records take notice 
only of the races in which there were disputes requiring settle- 
ment in court. The number of these indicates indirectly the num- 
ber of races run without charge of unfairness. 

" Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 430. 

■ Eenrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 161, Va. St. Libr. 
The Court allowed Webb a balance of £3 10s. 

23 Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 235, Va. St. Libr. 



208 The Social Life of Virginia. 

were among the first citizens of the Colony. The 
high repute in which the sport was held is shown by 
the fact that it was not considered derogatory to the 
dignity and usefulness of the first clergyman in Vir- 
ginia at this time to take part as a judge in a horse 
race. The jury decided in favor of Captain Soane, 
and in doing so disclosed the determination so often 
exhibited by judges and juries alike of this period that 
when once two parties had agreed to run a race with 
their horses, both should be required to carry out the 
contract strictly; and that nothing short of the death 
of one of the horses should be accepted as a legal ex- 
cuse for the withdrawal of either party from the pro- 
jected heat. 24 

Among the most popular race courses in Henrico 
county was one which seems to have been generally 
known as the Ware. About 1698 there took place on 
this track an interesting race between a mare named 
Bony belonging to Thomas Jefferson, Jr., and a horse 
named Watt, the property of Thomas Hardiman. It 
was arranged that the race should cover one quarter 
of a mile. By the terms of the agreement the mare 
was to start ten yards ahead of the horse, and if she 
came in five lengths ahead of him, John Steward, who 
had borrowed the horse of Hardiman for the race, was 
to pay Richard Ward, who had borrowed the mare, 
five pounds sterling on demand. If, on the other hand, 
the horse came in five lengths ahead of the mare, 
Steward was to receive six pounds sterling from 
Ward. It was also agreed that the weight of each 
jockey should not exceed one hundred and thirty 

21 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-97, p. 147. Henrico County 
Minute Book, 1682-1701, p. 268, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 209 

pounds ; and that the race was to end as soon as the 
poles were passed. The mare, it seems, outran the 
horse, but a dispute arose, which brought the question 
of the stakes into court for settlement. Among the 
witnesses in this case were Thomas Chamberlaine and 
Stephen Cocke, whose names so often appear in the 
records in connection with this pastime. 25 Chamber- 
laine, about the same date, was a party to a race 
which was run on the course at Conecock. His op- 
ponent was Richard Ligon, and the wager agreed upon 
amounted to forty shillings. A gallon of rum was on 
this occasion provided for the enjoyment of the specta- 
tors. 20 

There was a fifth race track in Henrico county situ- 
ated at Malvern Hill. Here, in 1699, a heat was run 
between the horses of William Eppes and William 
Sutton for a stake of half a pound sterling. It was 
agreed that, in the race, each horse was to be kept to 
his own side of the course, unless, at the very start, 
Stephen Cocke, who was serving as Sutton's jockey, 
could, by two or three leaps of his horse, get pos- 
session of that part of the track belonging to the other 
rider. The starter in this race was William Ran- 
dolph, perhaps, after the elder William Byrd, the fore- 
most citizen of the county. Cocke failed to leap 
ahead after two or three jumps, and the horses in run- 
ning seem to have come violently against each other. 27 

There is nothing in the surviving records to show 
that the Virginians of the seventeenth century re- 
sembled their kinsfolk in England in finding pleasure 

25 Henrico County Records, Orders, April 1, 1098. 

20 Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 297. 

27 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1688-97, pp. 74-5, Va. St. Libr. 



210 The Social Life of Virginia. 

in such rude sports as cock-fighting, and bear and bull 
baiting. 28 If such rough pastimes were indulged in in 
the Colony, no proof of the fact remains; but it is al- 
together probable that sports of this kind, with the 
possible exception of cock-fighting, found no place in 
the category of their amusements, if, for no other 
reason, because it was in the power of every man, — 
master, servant, and slave, — to take part in hunting 
some species of wild game should his inclinations lie 
that way. Nowhere in those times was this form of 
diversion followed with more ardour than in Vir- 
ginia; 29 and nowhere perhaps were there more ample 
returns from gratifying so manly and healthy a taste. 
In gratifying that taste a double purpose was really 
served, for, as we have seen, the great variety of food 
which distinguished the tables of the planters in these 
early times was largely due to the game of different 
kinds obtained from the fields, forests, and streams. 

28 "There was now a very gallant horse to he baited to death 
with dogs, hut he fought them all so as the fiercest of them could 
not fasten on him, till they ran him through with their swords. 
This wicked and barbarous sport deserved to have been punished. 
* * * I would not be persuaded to be a spectator." Evelyn's 
Diary, Aug. 17, 1667. Evelyn records on June 16, 1668, that he 
had that day witnessed cock and dog fighting, bull and bear- 
baiting. 

23 In some eases, the hunters never returned. See case of Geo. 
Watson, Lower Norfolk County Records, Orders, Nov. 15, 1641. 



XV. 
Popular Diversions — Hunting and Fishing. 

THE landowners highly valued thle game found on their 
estates, and in many instances carefully protected it 
from depredations ; for example, in 1680 a guardian, in the 
interest of his ward, who resided in York, brought suit 
in the court of that county to recover damages from a 
citizen who had, with gun and dogs, trespassed on the 
ward's property, and also to prevent a recurrence of the 
wrong in the future. 1 Many additional cases, showing 
that the same position was taken by other planters, or 
their representatives, might be mentioned. Numerous 
estates, however, were so large, and such an extensive 
proportion of their area was in primeval forest, that it 
is not probable that their owners were able to keep them 
strictly posted even if they had wished it ; and in all parts 
of the Colony, especially in the vicinity of the irregular 
line of the frontier, there were wide reaches of land, in- 
land swamp, sea-marsh, barren upland and the like, 
which belonged to no man, and where everyone enjoyed 
the right to hunt at all seasons. It followed that it be- 
came a habit of the Virginians of every class to use the 
gun from the time they had strength enough to lift it to 
their shoulders. From the earliest date, the number of 
fowling pieces included among the items of inventories, 
was often very remarkable. 2 

1 York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 180. 

2 See inventory of Philip Felgate, Lower Norfolk County Rec- 
ords, Vol. 1646-51, p. 47. 



212 The Social Life of Virginia. 

The laws of the Colony during many years required 
that the head of every family should keep in his house, 
ready to hand, a well-fixed gun, two pounds of powder, 
and eight pounds of shot for every person under him who 
was able to carry arms. The object sought in this regu- 
lation was to provide for immediate defense against sud- 
den Indian attack. This was an additional reason why 
the Virginians should acquire an extraordinary skill in 
the use of the fire-lock ; and whether directed against the 
lurking Indian foe, or the different kinds of wild game, 
their aim was among the surest observed in those times ; 
more than one writer who had had opportunities of see- 
ing the manner in which they employed their guns, com- 
ments admiringly on their "marvellous dexterity." 3 

The gun was chiefly used in the pursuit of birds, of 
which there was an extraordinary abundance in the Col- 
ony, whether they belonged to those varieties frequenting 
the land, or to those that haunted the waters along the 
sea coast. Of the first, were the partridge, the wild 
pigeon, and the wild turkey. As the area of cultivated 
ground grew wider, the number of partridges steadily in- 
creased in consequence of their being able to find a larger 
supply of food. On the other hand, the number of wild 
turkeys perhaps as steadily diminished within the same 
area, as the turkey is distinctly a forest bird, that is very 
shy of human habitations. Of the two varieties of game, 
it is probable that the pursuit of the wild turkey afforded 
the Virginians the greater diversion, as it required much 
exertion as well as wariness to come up with it and kill 
it. Blinds of pine or oak boughs were erected at different 
eligible spots in the woods, and here, after scattering the 
flocks with trained dogs, the hunters would hide them- 
selves, and by skilful use of the yelp, soon call up the 

1 British State Papers, B. T. Va., for 1692, No. 118; unassorted. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 213 

confused and unsuspecting birds within range of the 
guns. But this was not the only method used in taking 
the wild turkey; among the ingenious devices employed 
for its capture was the large trap built in the midst of 
the forest ; lured by a long train of grains of corn to the 
hole in the ground which led into the trap, where there 
was piled up a quantity of the same grains, the turkey 
entered unhesitatingly, and once in, was too stupid to find 
its way out by the same hole again. Beverley informs us 
that sometimes as many as seventeen wild turkeys were 
captured at one time in this apparently simple fashion. 4 

The destruction of the turkey and partridge did not 
approach that of the wild pigeon, a bird which arrived in 
Virginia at the same season annually in the course of its 
migration. All contemporary observers declare that the 
number of these birds appearing at these times was far 
beyond the power of human calculation ; that for hours 
they darkened the sky like a pall of thunder clouds ; and 
that they broke down, by their weight, the limbs of the 
forest wherever an entire flock lighted in search of food. 
It can be well imagined that the return of this vast mul- 
titude of birds was eagerly anticipated each year by every 
Virginian who was fond of the sport of shooting and 
capturing them. So thickly did they crowd the woods 
in different places, and so tame had they become from 
fatigue and hunger, that they were struck down in great 
numbers with poles reaching up to their perches ; nor 
was the work of destruction confined to the day ; thou- 
sands were killed in the same manner at night, when the 
glare of torches served to confuse and bewilder their eye- 
sight. 5 

4 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258. 

11 See Bruee's Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth 
Century, Vol. I., p. 121. 



214 The Social Life of Virginia. 

The pursuit of the great flocks of wild geese and ducks 
along the sea coast, and by the shores of the inlets and 
creeks, afforded the Virginians of these early times as 
much diversion as the pursuit of the game birds frequent- 
ing the upland fields and forests. The gun had not yet 
been able to decimate the myriads of aquatic fowl which 
had been feeding in these waters from the earliest ages ; 
practically throughout the seventeenth century their 
number remained undiminished ; steal upon the flocks as 
often as they might, the sportsmen of that day could not 
make even a perceptible impression in reducing the in- 
calculable multitudes, that often, in one string, spread 
over several miles of the surface of the Bay. In hunting 
the duck and goose, the device of the blind used in pur- 
suing the wild turkey was employed, and in this way, 
the greatest success in killing them was obtained. 

The game hunted with dogs alone was as abundant as 
the game hunted with guns. There appear to have been 
in Virginia, in the seventeenth century, a great number 
of dogs of a mongrel breed, whose chief use was in de- 
stroying the smaller kinds of animals running wild in the 
woods and fields. How valuable they were considered to 
be by their owners is shown in a case which occurred in 
Northampton county about 1691 ; a complaint was, in 
the course of that year, lodged in the county court against 
Mike Dixon, on the ground that he permitted his dogs to 
rush out and bark at the heels of persons passing along 
the highway, which was situated immediately in front 
of his door. Instead of proposing to kill or restrain them, 
Dixon simply petitioned the court to have the public road 
removed some distance back from his dwelling house, 
"because it was necessary," he declared, "to keep dogs for 
the preservation of creatures from vermin." 6 The crea- 

6 Northampton County Eecords, Vol. 1689-98, p. 86. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 215 

tures he referred to were poultry and young pigs, and the 
vermin were wolves, foxes, minks, polecats, and the like. 

Though foxes were hunted, there is no record of 
wealthy planters breeding packs of hounds for the enjoy- 
ment of this sport. Hares were caught in large num- 
bers by pursuing them with dogs, or by smok- 
ing them out of the hollow trees, or the holes 
in the earth, in which they hid themselves during the 
day. Raccoons and opossums were tracked at night 
with ease. According to Beverley, the plan followed by 
the hunters of these animals was to go with three or four 
dogs to the parts of the woods where they were always 
to be found, owing to the abundance there of the wild 
grape, or whatever other food they were most fond of; 
as soon as an opossum or raccoon had been driven up a 
tree, the nimblest climber among the hunters was sent up 
to shake the animal from the limb on which it had taken 
refuge ; but, generally, it was only after a scuffle that the 
game could be made to loosen the grip of its claws and to 
tumble into the midst of the yelping hounds below. A 
moonlight night was usually selected for this special 
sport, or if the night was dark, the hunters carried pine- 
knot torches to light them on their way. The dogs were 
kept in easy reach by calls on a cowhorn, the mellow note 
of which at that silent hour in the forest could be heard 
at a great distance. Several large dogs were always 
taken along, as wolves, bears, and panthers were now 
abroad. 7 

Bears and panthers were found as late as 1683, even in 
those parts of the Colony which had been longest settled. 
In that year, rewards were offered in Accomac county 
for the destruction of these beasts, which must have 

T Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258. 



216 The Social Life of Virginia. 

greatly encouraged the pursuit of them, already very ex- 
citing from the very unusual danger attending it. 8 Bears 
were especially numerous in Lower Norfolk county, where 
they were able to obtain a secure refuge in the fastnesses 
of the Dismal Swamp. What was known as "wolf-driving" 
was, in many counties where this kind of animal still 
prowled about freely, one of the most popular forms of 
sport ; it was the annual custom in Northumberland, for 
instance, as late as 1691, for the county court to make 
public arrangements within regularly appointed limits 
for the thorough scouring of the forests for these hated 
vermin. 9 They seem to have been hunted on horseback 
with dogs, as if they were so many foxes. Beverley states 
that he had often, while going at full speed, run down 
wolves in the recesses of the woods. Beaver, otter, and 
deer hunting was also among the most popular diver- 
sions of Virginian sportsmen at this period. 

But the amusement of this general character which 
they are said to have most delighted in, was the pursuit 
of the horses that ran wild in the forests. So many foals 
were annually dropped there, that a large proportion of 
each herd was as shy of man as so many deer browsing 
within the same area of country. Under the custom 
then prevailing, these wild animals belonged to whoever 
could seize and brand them ; thus, in addition to the ex- 
citement of the sport, the young Virginian had as an 
inducement to pursue them, the prospect of getting pos- 
session of a very spirited steed. It was, however, such a 
difficult task to overtake them, that Beverley, after his 
own ardour perhaps had been cooled by advancing years, 
remarked that the chief result of trying to capture one 

•Accomac County Records, Vol. 1682-97, p. 35. 
•Northumberland County Records, Orders, Sept 16, 1691. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 217 

of these unbroken horses was to ruin one already 
broken. 10 Almost equal sport was afforded by hunting 
the numerous wild cattle roaming in the woods. 

Another popular diversion consisted in taking fish in 
various ways. This was done chiefly with hook and line, 
but seines, cast and stationary nets, as well as gill lines, 
were also in general use. The most exciting branch of 
this sport was known as "striking," a method that had 
been adopted from the Indians. A blazing light was ob- 
tained by burning pine knots in a brazier raised above 
the bow of a boat, and as the boat glided along over the 
surface of the stream in the darkness, this bright light 
attracted the fish, and also made them clearly visible in 
the water below. A person skilful in handling the weapon 
employed in this sport, was able to secure a great num- 
ber of very fine fish in a single night. 11 

10 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258. 

11 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 258. 



XVI. 
Private and Public Occasions — The Funeral. 

THE most important occasions of a partly or wholly 
public character in Virginia during the seventeenth 
century were the horse-race, the funeral, the wedding, the 
meeting at church on Sunday, the general muster, and 
county-court day. I have already referred to the popular 
gatherings at the principal horse-races. \ From an early 
date, the funeral had some of the aspects of a festive 
event, however decorously conducted. In the remote 
rural neighborhoods, especially where the extraordinary 
seclusion and monotony of the life in narrow clearings in 
the primeval forests seemed to emphasize the sombre 
side of human destiny, it would have been supposed that 
a funeral would have reached the very height of solemni- 
ty, not only in the actual ceremony itself, but also in all 
that immediately followed. Moreover, it was in such a 
community as this that the deceased was most likely to 
have been known to every individual in the assemblage 
of people, a fact that, by imparting to all a sense of per- 
sonal loss, would have made a mournful feeling universal, 
and for that reason, if for no other, left the gloom of the 
funeral unrelieved by even a suggestion of cheerfulness 
in any form. But it was in these very neighborhoods 
that the people in attendance at a burial were most cer- 
tain to find, as soon as the ceremony was finished, a 
means of consoling themselves in the liveliest fashion, at 
least temporarily, for the bereavement which had be- 
fallen their community. Having in such a neighborhood 
to travel the furthest in order to be present at the funeral, 



in the Seventeenth Century. 219 

they stood in the greater need of refreshment when the 
ceremony was over. This fact was clearly recognized by 
the surviving members of the deceased person's family. 
It would have been looked upon as most inhospitable to 
have permitted those who had come such a distance to 
show their respect for the dead, to go away thirsty and 
hungry, to arrive more thirsty and more hungry still at 
their homes, at perhaps a late hour at night. Under the 
influence of this feeling, the persons attending a funeral 
were regarded as possessing an even more sacred charac- 
ter than ordinary guests, and the amplest provision that 
the house could afford was made for their entertainment. 

The eating and drinking was often preceded by a fu- 
rious fusillade. About 1650, Thomas Wall, of Surry 
county, instructed his executors to fire over his grave 
"three volleys of shot for the entertainment of those who 
came to bury him." 1 At this time, the firing off of guns 
at funerals was permitted by law; 2 but this was not al- 
ways allowed, as there were years when powder and lead 
had to be carefully husbanded, owing to fears of Indian 
invasion. So many accidents occurred at funerals by the 
wild firing indulged in by persons present who had been 
drinking too freely that, in 1668, the county court of Low- 
er Norfolk entered an order that no such firing should be 
suffered on a like occasion thereafter, unless an officer was 
on the ground to regulate it. 3 . At the funeral of Major 
Philip Stevens, in York county, as much as ten pounds 
of powder were used up in doing honor to his memory. 4 

The expenditure of powder, however, was insignificant 

1 Surry County Records, Vol. 1645-72, p. 246, Va. St. Libr. 
'Acts of Assembly, 1655-6, Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 265. 
•Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1656-66, p. 143. 
4 York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 86, Va. St. Libr. 



220 The Social Life of Virginia. 

in comparison with the consumption of liquor of all kinds. 
The quantity seems extravagant, even in those cases in 
which the deceased left a large estate; in the cases in 
which the estate was small, the quantity often provided 
appears incredibly disproportionate to the estate's value; 
for instance, at the burial in Surry county, in 1673, of 
John Grove, a planter of very moderate means, the cost 
of the liquors amounted to as much as one thousand 
pounds of tobacco. 5 The personal property of Walter 
Barton, of Lower Norfolk county, was valued at fifty- 
four pounds sterling and fifteen shillings only, and yet 
his funeral expenses were estimated at eight pounds 
sterling. The burial of William Vincent, who was also 
a man of small means, led to an outlay of fifteen hogs- 
heads of tobacco. 6 At the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth 
Eppes, of Henrico county, five gallons of wine and two 
gallons of brandy were drunk by the persons in attend- 
ance ; and, in addition, a steer and three sheep were con- 
sumed. At one funeral occurring in York county, in 
1667, it required, for the assuagement of the mourners' 
thirst, twenty-two gallons of cider, twenty-four of beer, 
and five of brandy; and to sweeten the drinks, twelve 
pounds of sugar had to be provided. 7 At another funeral, 
which took place in Lower Norfolk county, in 1691, the 
consumption of liquor amounted to sixty gallons of cider 
and four gallons of rum ; and of sugar, to thirty pounds. 8 
The expenses incurred in burying John Griggs, of York 

Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 33, Va. St. Libr. 

"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 549; Vol. 
1686-95, folio p. 171. 

'Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 258; York 
County Records, Vol. 1664-72, p. 221, Va. St. Libr. 

8 Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1686-95, f. p. 171. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 221 

county, were estimated at sixteen hundred pounds of 
tobacco. The provision of food and drink for the per- 
sons present on this occasion included turkeys, geese, and 
other domestic poultry, a pig, several bushels of flour, 
twenty pounds of butter, sugar, and spice; and also 
twelve gallons of different kinds of spirits. 9 Many other 
instances might be given of the heavy cost imposed upon 
estates in following the custom of furnishing the most 
liberal entertainment for funeral guests. 

Numerous testators deprecated such extraordinary ex- 
pense at their own funerals, and provided a limit to it in 
their wills ; for example, Ralph Langley, of York county, 
in 1683, instructed his executors to spend no more in 
drink at his burial than his estate could afford, which he 
estimated at six gallons ; of brandy presumably. 10 George 
Jordan, of Surry county, expressly forbade guns to be 
fired over his grave, and directed his executors to permit 
no drunkenness to disgrace the occasion. He wished a 
"good and decent funeral," he declared in his last will." 
John Michael echoed the same sentiment in even more 
emphatic words ; in his will he ordered that there should 
be "no drinking immoderately nor shooting suffered" at 
his burial, for such excesses, he said, "were very unsea- 
sonable and inconsistent with the occasion." Instead of 
this, there was to be only "a civil and free entertain- 
ment." 12 Some testators contented themselves, like Ed- 
ward Warren, with simply desiring that "some entertain- 
ment should be made for the friends who should come" 

•York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, p. 87, Ya. St. Libr. 
10 York County Recordg, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 485. 
"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 295, Va. St. Libr. 
12 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-79, p. 340. 



222 The Social Life of Virginia. 

to see them buried. 13 The funeral ceremony was not 
infrequently made more imposing by certain provisions 
as to the habiliments of the mourners. Colonel Richard 
Cole, of Westmoreland county, by will, directed that the 
minister who should be chosen to conduct the services 
at his grave, should, on the occasion, wear gloves and a 
love scarf; the pall-bearers, who were to embrace the 
leading citizens of the county, were to be similarly 
dressed; whilst the remainder of the company present 
were to wear gloves and ribbons. 14 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 171, Va. St. Libr. 
11 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1655-77, p. 186. 



XVII. 

Public and Private Occasions. — The Wedding. 

f\ NE of the most curious features of the social life of 
*<-S Virginia during- the seventeenth century, was the 
number of marriages often made by the same individual, 
and as a corollary, the quickness with which the loss of a 
partner was repaired by remarriage. Instances of the 
same person having married at least three times were far 
from unusual; and there were even instances in which 
a person had been married six times, without having, like 
Bluebeard or Henry VIII., shortened the length of a 
single one of the six unions by murder or divorce. 1 The 
frequency with which remarriage on the part of a woman 
took place was due, in some measure, to the fact that she 
was always married off at a very early age. When a 
father made an important gift to a daughter, it was cus- 
tomary for him to insert in the deed conveying it, a clause 
providing as to what should be done with the gift in case 
she should become a wife before she had reached her six- 
teenth year. 2 Ursula, a daughter of the elder William 
Byrd, who died when seventeen years old, had been mar- 
ried to Robert Beverley long enough to give birth to a 
son. 3 There is an instance of a clandestine marriage re- 

*The mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, of Lancaster county, 
married six times. See Va. Maga. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II., p. 
237. 

'Surry County Records, Vol. 1G45-72, p. 408, Va. St. Libr. 

8 Writings of the second William Byrd, Bassett's edit., p. 
xxxiii. See an entry in Evelyn's Diary, May 16, 1681, in which 
he state* as his opinion that a young lady was not "capable of 
disposing of herself judiciously till *he was sixteen or seventeen 
years of age." 



224 The Social Life of Virginia. 

corded in Northampton county, in which the wife had not 
yet passed her twelfth year. 4 

Many of these women, who assumed all the cares of 
family life at such an immature age, became, in time, 
broken in health, and after bearing from ten to twelve 
children, died, leaving their husbands to marry again and 
to surround themselves with second broods, perhaps 
equally as numerous. But very often the young wife was 
left a widow in a few years, and if endowed with beauty, 
charm, or a fine plantation, she soon consoled herself by 
marrying a second or a third time, as the case might be. 
So great was the haste in some instances that the second 
husband was granted the probate of the will of the first. 5 
In 1696, Rev. James Boulware obtained, in the Essex 
county court, a judgment against Edward Danneline for 
fees which were due to him, not only for having per- 
formed the marriage service of Mr. and Mrs. Danneline, 
but also for having preached the funeral sermon of John 
Smith, the first husband of Mrs. Danneline, for whose 
estate the second husband had been appointed administra- 
tor. 6 In this case, the funeral baked meats had furnished 
forth the marriage tables. There is one instance recorded 
in this century in which the husband took such a cheerful 
and philosophical view of his widow's remarriage that 
he left his whole estate to her children by a second 
husband, should she remarry again and have offspring 
— an example of serene generosity probably then with- 
out precedent, and probably never since imitated. 

But perhaps the most remarkable case of quickness 

* Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 154. 
8 Case of Alexander Shipworth, York County Records, Vol. 
1664-72, p. 70, Va. St. Libr. 

"Essex County Records, Orders, June 11, 1696, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 225 

with which a widow's hand was sought in marriage after 
the death of the first husband, occurred as early as 1623. 
Rev. Greville Pooley was the hero of this episode, which 
was characterized by all the romance that ardour at least 
could give. The husband of Mrs. Jordan had been dead 
only three or four days, when Mr. Pooley, fearful lest a 
rival should start up, earnestly requested Captain Isaac 
Madison to broach for him, to the widow, a proposal of 
marriage. Madison, no doubt, struck with the unseemly 
haste of such conduct, at first declined to act as inter- 
mediary; naturally enough, he said that he did not wish 
to "meddle in any such business ;" but finally, being a 
warm friend of the clergyman, and feeling sure that Mrs. 
Jordan would soon marry some other man, if she did not 
marry Pooley, he yielded. When Madison told her of his 
mission, the lady declared that she had as soon marry 
Mr. Pooley as anyone she knew, but she did not think 
it quite decent to do so so quickly. Having received this 
answer, Pooley plucked up courage to visit Mrs. Jordan 
himself. During the course of the interview, he desired 
a dram of her, and on her bidding one of the servants go 
and fetch it, he declared very gallantly that he would 
have it of her fetching, or not at all. She then went into 
the next room for it. A verbal contract was now entered 
into with all the formality of a marriage ceremony, and 
the couple drank to each other's health. He kissed her 
and exclaimed : "I am thine, and you are mine until death 
do part us." A few minutes afterwards, Mrs. Jordan 
began to fear lest she should be criticised should she be, 
too precipitate in remarrying. Pooley, however, pro- 
tested "before God that he would not reveal" the engage- 
ment until she thought "the time fitting." But being very 
full of the secret, and perhaps thinking to bind the ladv 
more firmly, he soon told it. Mrs. Jordan was so an- 



226 The Social Life of Virginia. 

gered that she declined to carry out the contract, and in 
so doing increased the clergyman's chagrin by saying that 
"if he had not revealed it, he might have fared ye better." 7 

The quickness with which so many women of this 
period remarried was not due to a lack of tender feeling 
for the memories of their deceased husbands ; it very fre- 
quently had its origin in reasons of practical necessity 
that could not be carelessly put aside. On a large and 
secluded plantation, where numerous unbroken negroes, 
recently brought in from Africa were at work, or white 
agricultural servants, who, in some cases, were transport- 
ed criminals, the position of a widowed mistress, however 
firm in character, or however accustomed to command, 
was environed with dangers as well as exposed to serious 
inconveniences. The reasons for apprehension were 
more urgent when she had been left with very young 
children. The men seemed to recognize at once that 
widows were made, by these peculiar conditions, which, 
as a rule, surrounded them, the more easy of conquest, 
and they pressed their suits with a proportionate degree 
of confidence and ardour. 

The frequency of remarriage on the part of the women 
of this period was also due, in some measure, to the fact 
that the number of persons of the male sex exceeded the 
number of persons of the female in the different com- 
munities of the Colony. Among the native inhabitants, 
there was, no doubt, a numerical equality between the 
two sexes, but the disproportion in favor of the male sex 
in Virginia throughout the seventeenth century was an- 
nually maintained by the very much larger number of 
men than of women among the new settlers, whether they 
came over with independent means, or with no other re- 

7 British Colonial Papers, Vol. 1622-3, No. 30. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 227 

source but the labor of their hands; whether, in short, 
they were planters on their own account, or merely agri- 
cultural servants. There were, naturally, more persons 
of the male than of the female sex among the English 
emigrants; and it followed that the supply of possible 
husbands was greater than the supply of possible wives, 
and that, if a woman remained single, whether from 
birth, or after the death of her husband, it was for no 
want of suitors for her hand. One means adopted by 
brothers who had prospered in the Colony, of aiding 
their families left behind in England, was to invite their 
sisters to visit them in Virginia, where, as in the case of 
William Fitzhugh's sister, they would soon be able to 
make eligible matches. Bullock informs us that no maid 
whom he had brought over failed to find a husband in 
the course of the first three months after she had entered 
his service. 

At the time when Rev. Greville Pooley made such 
haste to distance all possible rivals in the graces of Mrs. 
Jordan, the numerical superiority of the men was per- 
haps the most extraordinary in the history of the Colony. 
It was only a few years before that the London Company 
had found it necessary to import wives for the different 
tenants engaged in working the public lands ; in one year 
alone, there appear to have been settled on these lands 
one hundred and ten tenants, 8 none of whom seem to 
have been married until the company provided wives for 
them. The social rank of these tenants was the same 
as that of the large body of men renting farms from the 
great English proprietors, from among whom they had 
perhaps been taken, owing to their experience in culti- 

8 Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. II., p. 40, Richmond 
edition. 



228 The Social Life of Virginia. 

rating the soil. They certainly did not occupy a higher 
social level than English yeomen. 

The young women who went over to become the wives 
of the tenants, though belonging to the lower orders in 
England, were chosen especially for their previous good 
character. No indiscriminate or irregular method of se- 
lecting them was countenanced in the slightest degree by 
the company. Owen Evans, pretending to have received 
the royal commission to impress maids for shipment to 
Virginia and the Bermudas, visited Somersetshire, and 
there caused such consternation among the young unmar- 
ried women, that forty are said to have fled from one 
parish alone, and so successfully concealed themselves 
that their nearest friends did not know what had become 
of them. Evans was soon arrested. 9 It is probable that 
the whole number of maids imported did not exceed one 
hundred and fifty. The largest band arrived in 1620, 
when ninety landed. 10 In a letter from the company to 
the Governor and Council in Virginia, dated August, 
1 62 1, it was stated that one widow and eleven maids had 
been dispatched, and that fifty more maids would soon 
follow. 11 In September of the same year, the company 
again wrote that thirty-eight maids had been sent out ; 
and it is probable that this number was additional to the 
fifty previously referred to. 12 Each one was acquired 
at the rate of about one hundred and fifty pounds of to- 
bacco, or twelve pounds sterling, which went to reimburse 

8 Dom. Cor. Jas. I., Vol. CIIL, No. 42. 

"Abstracts of Proceedings Va. Co. of London, Vol. I., p. G7, 
Va. Hist. Soc. Pub. 

"Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 1G5. 

"Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 166. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 229 

those members of the company who had borne the ex- 
pense of transporting the maids to the Colony. 13 

That these young women did not become the wives of 
the tenants within a few days after they reached Vir- 
ginia is shown by several facts. First, the company gave 
orders that they should be well cared for until married, 
and the Assembly requested of the company that they 
should always bring victuals with them for their support 
in this interval. 14 Secondly, in choosing a husband 
among the large body of men who occupied the public 
lands, each maid was to have as much freedom of selec- 
tion as she would have enjoyed had she been marrying in 
England. There was probably a proportion of three sin- 
gle tenants to each maid, and her choice, therefore, in- 
stead of being confined to one man, practically lay be- 
tween three men, any one of whom she could accept or 
reject as under normal circumstances in her native coun- 
try. If no one of the three touched her fancy, it was in 
her power to abandon the thought of marriage altogether ; 
by disposing of herself as a domestic servant or agricul- 
tural laborer, in response to the extraordinary demand 
for her in either character that existed, she could easily 
have secured the amount required to cover all the charges 
entailed by her transportation to the Colony; and this 
was perhaps the course pursued by some among this me- 
morable company of women, who have so often furnished 
a theme to romantic writers. 15 

An impression prevailed in England in these early 

13 Randoph MS., Vol. III., p. 166. 

M Randolph MS., Vol. III., pp. 165, 1G6. 

"No writer has used this celebrated episode more effectively 
than Miss Mary Johnston in her popular novel, " To Have and to 
Hold." 



230 The Social Life of Virginia. 

times that the Virginian residing alone on his plantation 
on the other side of the world, was willing to marry any 
woman rather than not marry at all; for instance, in 
1612, the Spanish Ambassador in London, Don Pedro de 
Cunega, reported to the King of Spain that at least forty 
or fifty of the settlers in the Colony on James river had 
found wives among the Indians, and that a clergyman 
who had opposed their doing so, had been strongly repre- 
hended. 16 In reality, the only marriage between an In- 
dian woman and an English settler occurring in Virginia 
during the existence of the company's rule, was the cele- 
brated union of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, which was 
made possible by the fact that Pocahontas was the daugh- 
ter of a king, however barbarous in spirit and aspect. The 
earliest English marriage to take place in the Colony was 
that of Anne Burras and John Laydon. Laydon himself 
followed the pursuit of a carpenter, while Anne Burras 
was the serving woman of Mrs. Forrest, the wife of a 
prominent settler. 17 

The marriage contract was quite as common in Vir- 
ginia during the seventeenth century as it was in Eng- 
land. The terms of some of these ante-nuptial agree- 
ments secured to the woman the right to retain the 
whole of her property, 18 a right that was, perhaps, al- 
ways reserved in those cases in which the future wife 
was a widow with children, whose first husband had left 
her his entire estate in fee simple. In a marriage con- 
tract between John Hurst and Elizabeth Alford, of Lower 
Norfolk county, dated 1675, it was carefully stipulated 

10 Calendar of British State Papers, Colonial 1574-1660, p. 13. 
"Works of Captain John Smith, Vol. I., p. 203, Richmond 
edition. 

"Surry County Records, Vol. 1671-84, p. 265, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 231 

that Hurst should not "meddle" with his wife's property, 
and that she should be fully authorized, not only to man- 
age, but also to sell it, should she so desire, as if she were 
still unmarried. In addition, she kept in her own hands 
the power to convert to her own use the bills of exchange, 
tobacco, and other merchandize, which she should at any 
time send out of the Colony; above all, she reserved to 
herself the right to distribute her estate by will in such 
manner as she chose. 19 It is evident that this lady was 
shrewd enough to make the most of the eagerness of her 
lover by preserving her complete independence in all 
matters relating to her own business. 

There is recorded of this period at least one instance 
in which a woman bound herself by a formal contract 
not to marry any one but the other party to the agree- 
ment, but apparently not binding herself absolutely to 
marry this person. Such was the case of Sarah Harrison, 
daughter of Benjamin Harrison, who after "cordially 
promising" never to become the wife of anyone but Wil- 
liam Roscoe, boldly repudiated her written obligation by 
becoming the wife of Rev. James Blair. Her conduct at 
her wedding gave additional proof of her eccentric char- 
acter ; when called upon by the clergyman who performed 
the ceremony to say "obey," she replied : "no obey ;" and 
when the clergyman read that part of the service again, 
she again replied "no obey ;" and gave the same answer 
when he read it a third time. The clergyman now ig- 
nored her words and proceeded with the ceremony to its 
conclusion, probably in his heart wishing Mr. Blair well 
of a very capricious partner. 20 

There were great strictness and exactness in the Colony 

19 Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1GGC-75, p. 185. 
" Va. Maga'. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., p. 278. 



232 The Social Life of Virginia. 

in throwing around marriage all the safeguards which 
the law could create and enforce. Under a proclama- 
tion issued in 1672 it was declared that the ceremony 
should not be valid unless a license bearing the Governor's 
signature had been first obtained, or unless the banns had 
been published at least three times in the church of the 
parish in which the parties resided. 21 When one of the 
latter was under age, the consent of the parents or guar- 
dians was required before the license would be granted ; 22 
and the license itself had to be returned to Jamestown for 
final recordation. 23 About 1683, the presiding justice of 
each county court was impowered to issue a marriage 
license after receiving a certificate from the clerk of the 
same court that the marriage bond called for by Act of 
Parliament had been given. 24 The penalty named in this 
bond was twenty thousand pounds of tobacco. The bond 
itself seems to have been generally signed by the bride- 
groom and a friend, who had come forward as his se- 
curity, but in many cases it appears to have been signed 
by his friends alone. 25 The publication of the banns in 
the parish church shows how closely English customs 
were followed in the Colony ; this method of legalizing an 
intended marriage was probably, in most cases, preferred 
to the license, if for no other reason, because it entailed 
smaller expense, since a fee of one hundred pounds of 
tobacco had to be paid for the license, but of only forty 

21 Robinson's Transcripts, p. 73. 

22 Acts of Assembly, Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 216. See, also, 
Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 157. 

23 Henrico County Records, Vol. 1677-92, orig., p. 225. 
"York County Records, Vol. 1675-84, orig., p. 517. 
"Three marriage bonds will be found among the records of 

Essex county for the year 1693. See Vol. 1692-5, pp. 290-1, Va. 
St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 233 

pounds for the banns. 20 It seems to have been usual at 
times for the prospective bridegroom to set up at the 
court-house door, a written notice of his intention to 
marry; this was done, in 1657, by Richard Markham, 
who was engaged to Frances Yeates, and, in 1659, by 
John Manning, who was engaged to Lydia Richardson. 
Both were citizens of Lower Norfolk county. 27 

Runaway matches occurred very frequently throughout 
this period. To such an extent had Maryland, by 1673, 
become the Gretna Green of Virginian lovers, whose 
marriages for one reason or another were obstructed in 
their own Colony, that the Virginian Assembly, in the 
course of that year, requested the Governor to appoint a 
committee with the power to negotiate with the Governor 
of the neighboring Province for the adoption of regula- 
tions that would make it illegal for Catholic priests or 
Protestant clergymen there to marry the couples who had 
by stealth left Virginia and crossed the Potomac for that 
purpose. 28 But it was not always necessary to pass that 
river in order to make a clandestine marriage ; in 1662, 
a prominent citizen of Northampton county ran off with 
Elizabeth Charlton, a girl only twelve years of age, an 
heiress and a member of one of the most conspicuous 
families on the Eastern Shore. At the time, she was 
staying at the home of Captain Jones, where she was 
receiving her education. The marriage in this case oc- 
curred on the other side of the Bay, whither the couple 
had fled in a sail-boat. The license was probably ob- 
tained there, as there the two were unknown. 2 ' 1 

30 Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 243. 

"Lower Norfolk County Records, 1656-66, pp. 00, 253. 

M Orders of Assembly, Oct. 20, 1673, Colonial Entry Bode, Vol. 

Lxxxvr. 

29 Northampton County "Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 158. 



234 The Social Life of Virginia. 

As early as 1632, it was provided by law that, except 
in a case of necessity, the marriage ceremony should be 
performed in a church; 30 and that it should take place 
between the hours of eight in the morning and twelve 
midday. 31 The close of the ceremony at this period seems 
to have been followed by a lively fusillade; but this, 
finally, led to such an alarming expenditure of powder 
that it was restricted, if not forbidden altogether, in those 
years when there was fear of trouble with the Indians." 2 
It is not probable that the legal requirement that the mar- 
riage ceremony should be celebrated only in a church 
edifice remained in force down to 1700; in some of the 
parishes, the church was situated so remotely from many 
of the inhabitants that this would have made a journey 
of perhaps two days necessary to reach it. For several 
years previous to the middle of the century the local mag- 
istrates were impowered to perform the ceremony, but 
this resulted in so much confusion that a law was passed 
confining the right to clergymen ; 33 this change very prob- 
ably did not alter the rule, which must have prevailed 
during the time the magistrates could marry couples, 
namely, that the ceremony could take place in a private 
house. As soon as the settlements began to spread out, 
convenience required that this should be allowed ; and no 
doubt also the social spirit of the people, which sought 
to make the most in their secluded life of every enlivening 
event, caused it to be greatly preferred. When the wed- 
ding came off at the bride's home, the feasting and danc- 
ing, usually so freely indulged in, could be started as 

80 Hening's Statutes, Vol. I., p. 158. 

81 Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 216. 

82 Randolph MS., Vol. III., p. 210. 

83 Westmoreland County Records, Vol. 1653-64, p. 80. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 235 

soon as the ceremony ended. Very often this could not 
be done for hours when the ceremony took place in the 
parish church. 

There is no surviving record of the festivities ac- 
companying - a Virginian wedding in the seventeenth cen- 
tury; but little reason exists to doubt that an occasion 
of this kind closely resembled a like occasion occurring 
in England in those times. Quite probably it was at- 
tended by even greater and more prolonged gaiety, owing 
to the desire of the people, whose lives were, as a rule, 
secluded and uneventful on their remote plantations, to 
make the most of every opportunity that arose to brighten 
their existence. We have already seen that even the fu- 
nerals were not devoid of their bright and cheerful side ; 
if there was a disposition to extract even from a funeral 
all the social enlivenment which it could possibly afford, 
whether springing from the reunion of friends and ac- 
quaintances, or from the enjoyment of whatever was 
good to eat and drink, it can be easily perceived that the 
spirit with which the guests would enter into such a 
joyful occasion as a wedding, would be almost unre- 
strained. The county neighborhoods were not, as a rule, 
so thickly settled that an occasion of this kind re-occurred 
with extraordinary frequency, thus to dull by rapid repe- 
tition the edge of the pleasure derived from attending it. 
When a wedding did occur, it was an event all the more 
important because it did not happen so often as at this 
time it did in the more crowded parishes of England. 
Moreover, the majority of the guests, in order to reach 
the home of the bride, were compelled to travel a con- 
siderable distance either by boat or horse ; it was not a 
matter of a few hours for both going and returning, but 
sometimes of a whole day ; indeed, it was not uncommon 
for twenty-four hours to be consumed in the journey 



236 The Social Life of Virginia. 

to or fro alone, and knowing this, the guests were in no 
mood to shorten the festivities when they had once ar- 
rived at the residence where the wedding was to take 
place. The parents of the bride required no other in- 
fluence but the knowledge of the many miles their guests 
had come to lengthen these festivities to the last moment 
to which they could be drawn out. 

When a wedding came off, it seems to have been made 
an excuse for general relaxation among people of all 
classes, and sometimes for the most open disregard of 
duty. A witness in a case that was tried in the court of 
York county in 1656, testified that, on his arrival at Mr. 
Thomas Bushrod's residence, he was surprised to find 
his tobacco crop in a neglected condition. "Mr. Bush- 
rod," said he, "what do you mean by suffering your to- 
bacco to run up so high ; and why do you not topp itt ?" 
Mr. Bushrod replied that "his overseer, Richard Bark- 
shyre, had gone to a weddinge att Pyanketank without 
his consent, and he knew not how to helpe it." 34 When 
the Dutch men-of-war entered James River in 1666, and 
carried such havoc among the merchant-men lying there 
under the supposed protection of the guard-ship, the 
latter vessel was rendered practically useless at the criti- 
cal moment by the absence of the captain, on shore in at- 
tendance at a wedding. 

It does not seem to have been always customary at this 
period for the bridegroom to procure the wedding ring. 
In 1655, Henry Westgate directed in his will that a hogs- 
head of tobacco belonging to his estate should be used 
for the purchase of two wedding rings, one of which 
was to be given to his daughter, Elizabeth, the other to 

"York County Records, Vol. 1657-62, p. 125, Va. St. Libr. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 237 

his daughter, Anne. These rings were to be bought in 
England. 35 

The marriages which took place in Virginia in the 
seventeenth century, whether the ceremony occurred in 
church or in a private residence, were rarely followed by 
divorce. Writing in 1681, William Fitzhugh, a lawyer 
of distinction, who was thoroughly familiar with the 
Colony, declared that he had never known but one couple 
residing there to obtain from court even an order of sepa- 
ration. This couple was Giles Brent and his wife. 36 
Other cases, however, had occurred, but at very long in- 
tervals. In 1655, Alice Clawson, of Northampton county, 
secured a divorce from her husband on the ground that 
he had, for many years, lived among the Nanticoke In- 
dians in the character of their principal chief, and had 
refused to give up his Indian concubine. 37 In this case, 
the heathen associations of Clawson, even more than his 
prolonged desertion of his wife were probably the main 
reason why the justices granted the divorce so readily. 
It was rare that a decree of separation was prayed for, 
and still rarer that it was allowed. In 1699, Mrs. Mary 
Taylor, of Elizabeth City county, complained to the coun- 
ty court that her husband was "so cross and cruel" that 
she could not live with him. She begged that he should 
be required to provide her with a maintenance, but in a 
home of her own, where she would be "secure from dan- 
ger." The court promptly ordered him, not only to de- 
liver up to her her furniture and wearing apparel, but 

"Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1651-56, p. 182. 

M Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 8. 1681. 

"Northampton County Records, Vol. 1654-5, p. 135. There is 
a petition for divorce entered in Lower Norfolk County Records, 
Vol. 1656-66, p. 354 3 . 



238 The Social Life of Virginia. 

also to contribute twelve hundred pounds of tobacco, or 
six pounds sterling, annually to her support. 38 

88 Elizabeth City County Records, Orders, Jan'y 18, 1699. The 
following item relates to a midwife's fees: "Agnes Williams, aged 
24 years, sayeth that Maudlin (Magdalen), wife of John Major, 
did bargain with Susan Helline, widdowe, for to keep her while 
she lay in childbed, and did promise to give her 12 hens." This 
was in 1682. See Accomac County Records, Vol. 1632-40, p. 16, 
Va. St. Libr. 



XVIII. 

Public and Private Occasions. — Church, Court- 
Day and Muster. 

T7UNERALS and weddings partook in some measure 
-*- of a private nature, although, in these early times, 
the line between them and occasions strictly public in 
every sense was perhaps not always strictly drawn. 
The three most important public occasions in the 
social life of the people at this period were the meeting 
of the congregation in the parish church, the general 
muster and the gathering on the monthly county 
court day at the county court-house. 

In Virginia, throughout the seventeenth century, 
the holding of services in the parish church on Sun- 
day gave rise to an occasion which was as remark- 
able for its social as for its religious aspects. In this 
edifice all the people of the entire parish were sup- 
posed to assemble every Sabbath morning, and as 
there was a considerable penalty for remaining away, 
it is probable that few who were without a good 
reason to be absent failed to attend. Apart from any 
desire to join in public worship, the prospect of meet- 
ing friends and acquaintances must have had a strong 
influence in bringing a large number of persons to- 
gether under the church roof. Both before and after 
the hour of service they had a full opportunity to 
mingle in the closest social intercourse. It was at 
this time that friendships were formed or cemented, 
courtships begun or advanced, and the latest news and 



240 The Social Life of Virginia. 

gossip of the neighborhood banded about. Advantage 
must have been taken of this occasion also to wear 
some of that costly finery which, as we have seen, 
members of either sex very often possessed in a great 
quantity. The women were not so conscious of the 
sacred character of the hour as to be indifferent to 
arousing the envy of their acquaintances by the dis- 
play of a beautiful dress, while among the younger 
men at least there must have been many who sunned 
their foppish instincts in the eyes of the congrega- 
tion by the exhibition of their bravest waistcoats or 
most brilliant shoe-buckles. 

The old church which still stands near Smithfield, 
in Isle of Wight county, one of the noblest monu- 
ments of the colonial era in existence, 1 must have be- 
held in these early times as notable a gathering of 
planters and their families in the shadow of its em- 
bowering trees as has ever taken place on the soil of 
Virginia. Here, and at other churches like it, a spirit 
of social kindness as well as of religious devotion, was 
nourished from Sunday to Sunday, the bonds of 
mutual sympathy and helpfulness were made closer 
and more intimate, the more innocent vanities were 
aired, the manners of the young improved by inter- 



1 A very interesting account of the Smithfield church, its his- 
torical and personal associations, will be found in a sympathetic, 
learned and thoughtful paper read by Major R. S. Thomas before 
the Virginia Historical Society, Dec. 22, 1892, and published in 
its collections. Major Thomas possesses a fund of information 
about the history of this part of Virginia; and it is due to his 
extraordinary zeal and industry as an antiquarian that many 
facts of importance in illustration of that history have been pre- 
served. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 241 

course with their elders, and the minds of the old re- 
freshed by renewed association with their neighbors. 
For a few hours the parish church was a centre of 
overflowing life. If the services were in progress, 
there was the large congregation listening to the 
words falling from the lips of the clergyman, or join- 
ing in the singing of one of those immemorial psalms 
which required no instrumental music to increase their 
impressiveness ; and if the services had ended, there 
were the groups of persons within the edifice and the 
groups without under the trees laughing and convers- 
ing, while in the surrounding thickets horses, impati- 
ent to carry their masters and mistresses home, were 
neighing and stamping the ground. 2 An hour later 
the character of the whole scene had changed ; the 
church building was closed in door and window ; not 
a man or horse was to be observed ; and the silence was 
only broken by the occasional cry of a wandering bird, 
or the bark of a squirrel. And so it continued until, 
on the following Sunday, the church doors were 
thrown open again. 

A general muster, while sharing in some of the 

2 The peacefulness of the occasion was sometimes, in the fron- 
tier counties disturbed by rude interruptions, as the following 
entry in the Henrico County Records for 1687 shows: "Upon ye 
p'sentment of one of ye grand jury on his own knowledge that 
Henry Ayscough did on a Sunday (ye tenth of July last) come 
drunk to ye Church, and there unbutton his coat and offer to fight 
with two persons then there; likewise he swore that he would 
ride into ye church and did attempt it; It is ordered that ye said 
Benry Ayscough, for his said drunkenness, swearing, and other 
misdemeanors, be fined, and doe pay according to ye lawee in such 
cases made" * * * Henrico County Minute Book, 1682-1701, 
p. 185, Va. St. Libr. 



242 The Social Life of Virginia. 

social features of the assemblage at church, was 
naturally distinguished for much more stirring and ex- 
citing incidents. As a meeting of this kind was held 
for an entire county, it drew together persons from a 
far wider area of country than the area contained in 
a single parish ; from the remotest points within these 
extensive limits the people came, some trudging on 
foot, some perhaps travelling in carts and rude car- 
riages, but the greater number riding on horseback. 
Women perched up behind on pillions accompanied 
their fathers, brothers, or husbands. The military 
spectacle afforded by a general muster, the finest 
which the Colony had to offer, no doubt had the same 
burning interest for all classes of persons at that day 
which it would now have. These musters must fre- 
quently have lasted longer than a few hours, but even 
when confined to a single day, the occasion for all who 
had to come from a distance really spread over two 
days, as they were unable to return home before the 
following morning. 3 There was thus an opportunity 
after the close of the exercises for a general com- 
mingling of the people. As every freeman was sub- 
ject to military duty, the muster brought together 
numerous representatives of every class in the commu- 
nity above the grades of servant and slave, and even 
servants and slaves were there in attendance on their 
masters. All who were most prominent and influential 
among the gentlemen residing in the county must have 

8 In 1696, as already stated, a petition was offered in the House 
of Burgesses by citizens of Northumberland county praying that 
no musters should be allowed to take place on Saturday, as it led 
to the profanation of Sunday. See Minutes of House of Burgesses, 
Sept. 30, 1696, B. T. Va., Vol. LII. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 243 

been present, and this fact alone, no doubt, served to 
impart a special social distinction to the occasion in 
the eyes of the opposite sex, and had its effect in in- 
creasing the number of ladies present. The muster 
itself, by varying the character of the day by a military 
display, gave a fillip to the social pleasure of the re- 
union such as it would not have possessed had the peo- 
ple come together without a special object. The event 
very probably also had its darker side in the presence 
of many who were disposed to take advantage of it to 
indulge too freely in liquor, but the presence of so 
many soldiers fully armed was always a guarantee that 
no serious disorder would occur. 

The diversions of the monthly court day were en- 
tirely confined to men. This occasion was far from 
being purely social in its character. It had also its 
political and business aspects, all of which were re- 
moved from the sphere of feminine participation. The 
absence of women, in a measure, accounts for the lack 
of restraint which so often distinguished the day in 
these early times. There are numerous proofs that 
the meeting of the monthly court created an opportu- 
nity, not only for the general discussion of the merits 
of candidates for the House of Burgesses, for making 
bargains for the sale of tobacco and live stock, and for 
an exchange of county news, but also for a free enjoy- 
ment of rough horse-play. Above all, it was enlivened 
by a great deal of drunken revelry, which was not 
entirely confined to members of the lowest class. A 
minute of Northampton county court, dated 1678. 
records the fact that it had become the practice of 
several persons to attend on the occasion of the court's 
meeting in order to get intoxicated, quarrel, and fight; 



244 The Social Life of Virginia. 

and that they had had the "impudence" to enter the 
court-room whilst the judges were sitting, and be 
abusive to their face. A strict measure for repressing 
these roughs was adopted, and the keeper of the ordi- 
nary near the court-house was warned that, unless he 
preserved perfect order in his tavern, his license would 
be withdrawn. 4 When George Mayplis petitioned the 
county court of Lancaster for the right to sell cider 
at the court-house on court day, it was granted on con- 
dition that its exercise should be "in no ways injurious 
or prejudicial in ye disturbing of ye court in ye time 
of its sitting." B In spite of all these precautions on 
the part of the justices, much drunkenness seems to 
have prevailed by the time night arrived. This fact 
was so well known that the indentured servants very 
often took advantage of the relaxed vigilance of that 
hour to make their preparations for flight. About 
1680 a servant confessed in Northampton county court 
that he had been waiting for a court day in order to 
steal a bridle and saddle. This he said he could do 
as soon as night came on when he knew the people 
would be too much in drink to observe his action. The 
bridle and saddle he intended to hide in the woods un- 
til he could run off with one of his master's horses and 
thus make good his escape to Maryland. 6 Nicholson, 
during the course of his adminstration offered prizes 
to all who should excel in riding, running, shooting, 
wrestling, and cudgeling. 7 These contests probably 
took place on court days. 

4 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1674-78, p. 374. 
"Lancaster County Records, Orders, July 12, 1682. 

6 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1679-83, pp. 52, 53. 

7 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 79. 



XIX. 
Duelling. 

IN a life so frequently marked by controversies and 
brawls on the occasions when the people came to- 
gether, it was to be expected that every now and then 
a duel would occur, which would end in a tragedy. As 
early as 1619 Captain William Eppes killed Captain 
Stallinge in a private quarrel. At a later period, owing 
to heated words that had passed between them while 
together making a journey to Jamestown, a duel took 
place between Richard Stephens and George Harrison, 
in which Stephens received a cut in the knee from his 
opponent's sword. At the end of two weeks he was 
dead, but the autopsy showed that he could not have 
lived long even if he had come off uninjured in the duel 
with Harrison. 1 Actual or threatened duels must not 
have been uncommon about 1643, as m the course of 
that year an order was adopted that, should a justice 
of the peace send a challenge to a member of the Coun- 
cil, he should be disabled from holding office. 2 This 
special order was, no doubt, called forth by a particu- 
ular instance in which such an offence had been com- 
mitted by a judge of one of the county courts. 

A decade had hardly passed when we find a justice 
in the position of the councillor in this case. About 
1653 Richard Denham, acting for his father-in-law, 

'Letter of George Menifie to John Harrison in England, April 
127, L624, British Colonial Papers, Vol. III., 1624-5, No. 15. 
2 Robinson Transoripts, p. '23S. 



246 The Social Life of Virginia. 

Captain Thomas Hackett, delivered a challenge to Mr. 
Daniel Fox at the very moment he was sitting with his 
fellow justices on the bench of Lancaster county court. 
Denham admitted, when sternly questioned by the 
court, that he was aware he bore a challenge, and he 
boldly demanded of Fox what answer he proposed to 
return to Captain Hackett. One of the justices here 
spoke up in sharp reproof: "An action of that nature," 
he exclaimed, "I would not be ye owner of for ye 
world." To which Denham replied in a slighting man- 
ner. The court then very emphatically declared that 
Denham was a "party in ye crime" of Captain Hackett, 
and that for bringing the challenge, whose character 
he well knew, and for delivering it while the justices 
were sitting, as well as for his contemptuous manner 
and peremptory words, he should receive on his bare 
shoulder six strokes of a whip at the hands of the 
sheriff. The latter officer was also instructed to arrest 
Captain Hackett and hold him without privilege of 
bail until he should "answer for his crimes" at the 
next session of the General Court at Jamestown. The 
cause of the challenge seems to have been a reflection 
cast upon Hackett by Fox during a session of the 
county court, which Hackett asserted had its origin in 
"malice and an evil disposition." He invited Fox to 
meet him at eight o'clock in the morning at a point 
situated on the line bounding their two estates, where, 
as it lay in a valley, the combatants would be removed 
from observation or interruption. Hackett selected 
the rapier as his weapon, and the only particular in 
which he failed to follow the regulations was in not 
leaving the choice to his opponent ; but he was scrup- 
ulous to inform Fox of the length of the special rapier 



in the Seventeenth Century. 247 

he proposed using in the duel. He requested Fox to 
bring his second with him. "If you please," he adds 
with great courtesy. 3 

Some of the servants appear to have been as fiery 
in nature as their masters, and as quick to resent an 
affront, real or imaginary. In 1661 a servant belonging 
to Christopher Calvert, who resided on the Eastern 
Shore, sent a peremptory challenge to Goslin Van 
Netsen, a citizen of Dutch origin. The challenge was 
accepted, a duel fought, and the servant badly 
wounded. Calvert was ordered by the county court to 
pay for the present all the fees which Dr. George 
Nicholas Hacke should charge for medical attendance 
on the injured man, but they were ultimately to be 
shared equally with Van Netsen, who had inflicted the 
wound. Calvert was to be finally compensated by an 
extension of the servant's term. 4 It is probable that, 
in this case, the servant sending the challenge really 
belonged to a higher social grade than would appear 
from the entry in the records. Many of those bound 

'Lancaster County Records, Vol. 1652-56, p. G4. "The chal- 
lenge ran as follows : ' Mr. ffox, I wonder ye should so much de- 
generate from a gentleman as to cast such an aspersion on me in 
open Court, making nothinge appear but I knowe it to be out of 
malice and an evil disposition which remains in your hearte, 
therefore, I disyre ye if ye have anything of a gentleman or of 
manhood in ye to meet me on Tuesday morninge at ye marked 
tree in ye valey which partes yr lande and mine, about eight of 
ye clocke, where I shall expect yr comeinge to give me satisfaction. 
My weapon is rapier, ye length I send ye by bearer ; not yours at 
present, but yours at ye time appointed. Tin >MAS ITACKETT. 
Ye seconde bringe along with ye if ye please * * * I shall 
finde me of ye like." 

4 Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, orig., p. 132. 



248 The Social Life of Virginia. 

by articles of indenture were young men of gentle 
connections, whose social antecedents were incon- 
sistent with the position in which they placed them- 
selves ; or it may be they had signed the articles in 
order to learn some special pursuit, like tobacco plant- 
ing, before embarking in it on their own independent 
account. It is not likely that Van Netsen would have 
accepted a challenge from an ordinary domestic or 
agricultural servant, as that would have signified a 
confession on his part that he did not hold himself 
higher than the lowest social class in the community. 
A curious instance is recorded in the history of the 
Insurrection of 1676 of a wish on the part of one of its 
leaders to have recourse to the old custom of single 
combat in order to find out with which side lay the 
true equity of the quarrel between the two parties. 
On one occasion, when the opposing soldiers were 
facing each other, A/Tajor Bristow, a supporter of Gov- 
ernor Berkeley, offered to fight any follower of Bacon 
who had a right to be considered a gentlemen. In- 
gram, one of the most conspicuous officers in the 
popular army, promptly accepted the challenge, but 
when he made a motion to advance, with sword and 
pistol in hand, his own man caught hold of him and 
forced him back, because, as the chronicler of the 
event slyly observes, they were doubtful of the justice 
of their side, but more probably because they saw that 
Ingram was no match in physical strength for his pro- 
posed antagonist. 5 

Giles Bland, who was destined to end his life on the 
gallows for the part he took in the Rebellion of 1676, 
had on one occasion a heated altercation with one of 



Ingram's Proceedings, p. 40, Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. 1. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 249 

the Luclwells, which ended in an exchange of gloves, 
and an appointment to fight a duel on the following 
morning. Bland appeared punctually at the hour 
agreed upon, but Ludwell failed to come. In his re- 
sentment Bland nailed the glove to the door of the 
State-House. 

Neither the transplanted Englishman nor the native 
Virginians were, when angry, scrupulous respecters of 
persons or places, however distinguished or sacred. 
In 1684 a quarrel arising in the court-house of Lower 
Norfolk county during a session of the justices, two 
brothers, John and Henry Gills, drew their swords on 
their opponents, and but for the prompt interference 
of the by-standers a bloody combat would have been 
fought on the floor of the room. Both brothers were 
at once committed to prison. 

6 Lower Norfolk County Records, Vol. 1675-86, Orders, May 15, 
1G84. "So many horned murders and duels were committed about 
this time as were never before heard of in England, which gave 
much cause of complaint and nmrinurings." See Evelyn's Diary. 
Dec. 18, 1684. Again he writes: "Many bloody and notorious 
duels were fought about this time."— Diary, Feb'ry 18, 1G8G. 



XX. 

Conclusion. 

NOW that the varied aspects of the purely social 
life of Virginia in the seventeenth century have 
passed under review, it is seen that the most remark- 
able general feature of that life was its close resem- 
balance to the social life of England in the same age, in 
spite of the modifying influences of a new and devel- 
oping country remotely situated from the Old World. 
There were several reasons why this close resemblance 
should have been maintained long after the community 
had had time to acquire a distinct character of its 
own. These reasons, which have been incidentally 
touched upon in the preceding pages in other connec- 
tions, may now be grouped together in conclusion. 

First, the great bulk of the population was of un- 
mixed English blood. At no period during the cen- 
tury did the alien element, whether Dutch, French, or 
Celtic, become important from the point of view of 
number, although individuals of foreign origin, from 
time to time, exercised great influence. 1 In nearly 
every instance the person of foreign birth intermarried 
with a Virginian, or English man or woman. Not only 
was his alien temper and sympathies thus moderated 
unconsciously to himself, but the chance of his trans- 
mitting his own national traits to his offspring was 
thus lessened, if not destroyed. His descendants in 
the third generation, if not in the second, gave no in- 
dications whatever of foreign descent. The original 

1 For a detailed account of the foreign elements, see Appendix. 



in the Seventeenth Century. 251 

foreign strain had in them at least been practically ob- 
literated. They were as thoroughly English in in- 
stinct, feeling, aspiration, moral standards, and general 
attitude of mind, as if no alien blood whatever coursed 
in their veins. 

In the second place, the population was not only of 
pure English blood as a whole, but also distinctively 
representative of the mass of persons residing in the 
Mother Country. Virginia was not, like New Eng- 
land, settled by people out of sympathy in their relig- 
ious observances, social customs, and general views 
of life with the majority of Englishmen. The emi- 
grants were drawn almost entirely from that majority, 
and as they shared all the social, religious, and political 
leanings that characterized it as a body, they, from 
the very beginning, planted in Virginia all the imme- 
morial habits, customs, and traditions of their native 
land. Wave following wave simply confirmed these 
habits, customs, and traditions, because forming a part 
of their own lives before finding a home in the West. 

The English spirit prevalent in that age is reflected 
in a more or less vivid degree in all the peculiarities of 
Virginian social life, from the sharp division into 
classes down to the indoor and outdoor diversions of 
the people. The gentleman was as distinctly differ- 
entiated from the yeoman, and the yeoman from the 
agricultural servant or mechanic, as in England itself. 
Such men as William Byrd, Richard Lee, Adam 
Thoroughgood, and the elder Nathaniel Bacon, men who 
owned many slaves and thousands of acres of land, 
besides filling the principal political offices, occupied in 
their respective parts of Virginia the same position of 
influence as that occupied by the largest landowners 



252 The Social Life of Virginia. 

in the English shires. The social barriers which sepa- 
rated these men, and men of the same class, from per- 
sons belonging to a lower rank, were as clearly recog- 
nized in Virginia as in the Mother Country. From the 
beginning there was never there any of that rude social 
equality which characterizes all pioneer communities 
in our own times. All the ceremonial terms indicating 
social superiority, all the badges and signs long 
adopted as marks of gentle descent, were in constant 
use in the Colony from its foundation. Tt is true that 
an unrestricted suffrage prevailed for many decades, 
but as soon as the artistocratic influence became com- 
pletely predominant the right to cast a vote was made 
dependent upon the conditions which had long been 
enforced in England. 

The English spirit was reflected not simply in the 
strict preservation of social differences. It was equally 
conspicuous in all the social habits and customs of the 
Virginians, — in the manner in which they celebrated 
their funerals and weddings ; in the general character 
of all their public gatherings ; in the nature of their in- 
door diversions, such as card-playing, betting, danc- 
ing and the like ; in their love of horse-racing; in their 
taste for hunting and fishing, and in their cheerful 
recognition of all the claims of hospitality. 

The third influence promoting a close social resem- 
blance to England was a corollary of the first and 
second, namely, with few exceptions, the most con- 
spicuous citizens of Virginia in the seventeenth cen- 
tury had been born, reared, and educated in the Mother 
Country. By the time they emigrated to the Colony 
their characters had been formed and their opinions 
fixed in the English mould, to which they had been 



in the Seventeenth Century. 253 

subjected during their childhood, youth, and early 
manhood. They were Englishmen, not simply by 
descent and nativity, but also by consent and intimate 
personal associations during the most susceptible and 
receptive period of their lives. Under English skies 
they had obtained, unconsciously to themselves, a 
thorough knowledge of all the social laws of their na- 
tion ; had become familiar with all that nation's forms 
of social diversion ; had acquired all the culture which 
the English schools could impart, and had become 
versed in all that the Anglican Church could teach of 
religious dogma and religious ceremony. In short, all 
their preferences in the matter of ecclesiastical, politi- 
cal, and social government had all been finally shaped 
before they saw the shores of Virginia. Their readi- 
ness to leave their old home in order to try their for- 
tunes in the remote West was a proof that they were 
possessed of an unusual degree of self-reliance, energy, 
and enterprise ; and men of that character were the 
very ones who were least likely to be disloyal to the 
impressions of their formative years. It was these 
men who were most instrumental in giving direction to 
the history of the Colony in the seventeenth century, 
whether religious, social, or political, and not un- 
naturally their influence, after their emigration, was 
cast on the side of all those ideals which had prevailed 
in the Mother Country for immemorial generations. 

A fourth influence promoting the Colony's social re- 
semblance to England was the existence within its sot- 
tied area of a system of extensive landed estates. This 
system had its principal origin in the needs of the to- 
bacco plant. A virgin soil was required for the pro- 
duction of that plant in its highest perfection, and to 



254 The Social Life of Virginia. 

secure this the landowner was constantly compelled to 
increase his holdings. But the tendency towards the 
engrossment of the soil did not spring entirely from 
economic influences ; it sprang in part from a feeling , 
which the landed proprietor had either brought over 
from England, or inherited from an English father, 
namely, that the possession of a large landed estate 
was the firmest basis on which the social distinction 
of his family could rest. Moreover, it would enable 
him to gratify one of the strongest of his inherited 
social instincts ; that is to say, his desire to maintain a 
strict privacy in the surroundings of his home. Love 
of isolation in the situation of his dwelling house has 
always been a characteristic of the Englishman. If his 
estate is small, he plants a hedge, or erects a wall to 
shut out the public gaze ; if large, he builds his house 
behind groups of trees. There was no need to grow 
hedges or to build walls in Virginia to conceal the 
mansion from public view. A site could always be 
found where the most complete privacy was assured 
by the natural screen of hill or grove. This secluded 
life confirmed in the emigrant all those moral and in- 
tellectual tendencies which he had inherited or im- 
bibed in his native land. Indeed, those tendencies 
really expanded and flourished more freely in the at- 
mosphere of Virginia than they could have done had 
he remained in England, because the atmosphere of 
the Colony was less conventional and less artificial in 
its pressure than the atmosphere of the Mother 
Country. The life of the plantation simply accentuated 
all his native traits. He became only more jealous of 
his personal and political freedom ; only more intense 
in his love of home and family ; only more scrupulous 



in the Seventeenth Century. 255 

in his recognition of the claims of hospitality, and it 
religiously disposed, only more obedient to the au- 
thority of the church, and more submissive to the dic- 
tates of his early religious training. 

A fifth influence promoting the Colony's social re- 
semblance to the Mother Country sprang from the 
presence of the slave and indentured servant. The 
system of indentured service in its social effects dif- 
fered but little, if at all, from the system of slavery. 
It really accentuated the social divisions among the 
whites more distinctly than the presence of the insti- 
tution of slavery itself did. The indentured servants 
were as much a legalized lowest class in Virginia as 
the noblemen were a legalized highest class in Eng- 
land. It gave purely class distinctions a recognized 
standing in the Colonial Courts of Law. It was not 
until the end of the century that negro bondsmen be- 
came numerous on the plantations, and yet in social 
spirit the seventeenth century in Virginia did not dif- 
fer from the eighteenth. The ever-increasing multi- 
tude of African slaves after 1700 simply confirmed the 
social tendencies which had previously been fostered 
by the presence of the indentured whites. The black 
slave took the place of the white servant, with the re- 
sult of strengthening and extending, and not of modi- 
fying and narrowing, the prevailing social conditions. 

Finally, the Colony's social resemblance to the 
Mother Country was promoted by the fact that its 
whole system of government, whether as relating to 
its religious and legal affairs, or to its military and 
political, was modelled on the system prevailing in 
England. Virginia, like England, was divided into 
parishes under the control of vestries composed of the 



256 The Social Life of Virginia. 

foremost citizens of their respective communities ; and, 
like England, it supported an Established Church sub- 
ject to all the Anglican canons and regulations. Like 
England, it had placed the administration of the law in 
the hands, first, of a County Court, and, finally, of a 
Supreme Court ; only in Virginia there was but one 
Supreme Court, which enjoyed all the powers of the 
English co-ordinate highest courts combined. Like 
England also, Virginia relied chiefly upon a militia for 
defence ; and like England too, her political affairs 
were directed by a single Executive and an Upper and 
Lower Legislative Assembly. The emigrant saw 
around him all the institutions which he had been ac- 
customed to over-seas, only modified slightly in their 
application to a less populous and less wealthy com- 
munity. It was in agriculture alone that he observed 
an important departure, but the social influence of this 
divergence was diminished by the presence of the in- 
dentured servant and slave, which, as we have seen, 
had such an important effect in maintaining the class 
differences inherited from England. 

To the cursory glance the social life of Virginia in 
the seventeenth century seems doubly narrow and 
provincial ; first, because it was a community occupy- 
ing a site only comparatively recently stolen from the 
primeval forest ; and, secondly, because it was a 
Colony lying several thousand miles away from the 
Old World, and all the controlling currents of those 
times. But that life at once assumes its true character 
of universal interest and importance when it is recalled 
that this was the beginning of a social system which 
was to make a lasting impression upon the history of 
the Western Hemisphere, and which was to produce 



IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 257 

that memorable body of men, — Washington, Henry, 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, ami Marshall, — the trans- 
mitted influence of whose political careers has, with 
the growth of the United States in power, steadily 
broadened until it has now conic to touch the affairs 
of the entire globe. 



APPENDIX. 



As early as 1658, a very liberal naturalization law was 
passed by the Virginia Assembly in order to encourage 
foreign immigration. This law was renewed in 1671, and 
again in 1680. But at no time during the seventeenth 
century was the number of citizens of alien birth residing 
in the Colony so great as to exercise a marked influence 
on its general history. Long before the persecution of 
the Huguenots in France became systematic and pitiless, 
a considerable number of persons of French origin had 
settled in Virginia. It is most probable that, in nearly all 
these cases, the French immigrant had either himself 
lived for some time in England, or was sprung from pa- 
rents who had done so. If the former, he had stopped 
there long enough to become largely anglicized in spirit ; 
if the latter, he was certain to have been to all intents an 
Englishman, as he had been born under English skies, 
brought up in an English community, and educated in an 
English school. His name alone in this last case betrayed 
the original seat of his family. 

Among the few Frenchmen arriving at an early date 
in Virginia from their native country, were the Vigna- 
roons, whom the London Company were, by the luxuriant 
growth of the indigenous grape, encouraged in 1619 to 
bring over in order to test the capacity of the soil for the 
production of the finest varieties of wines. Others emi- 
grating to the Colony about this time, by way of London, 
were John and Peter Arundell. Peter Arundell was a 
native of Normandy, and this was probably the case also 
with John. Martin Slatier emigrated by way of Canada 



in the Seventeenth Century. 259 

previous to 1624. At a later period (about 1652), we 
find in Northumberland county a family of Roziers ; in 
York, families bearing the names of Sebrell and De Long 
respectively. In 1656, there resided in Lower Norfolk 
county Hugh Wood, originally Dubois, and John Forbes - 
son; in York county, in 1666, John Pettit, Peter Godson, 
and Francois a Pluvier ; in Surrey, during the same year, 
John la Grand ; in Lower Norfolk, Roger Fonteine ; in 
Northumberland, in 1669 (about which time there was a 
close trade connection between the Northern Neck and 
the Channel islands, so largely inhabited by people of 
French origin and names), John Montone, a prominent 
physician, Andrew de la Briere, John Contanceau, son of 
a Frenchman naturalized in England. Michael de Contee, 
Andrew Pettigru. John Cralle, and Clement Lempriere. 
One of the most conspicuous and useful citizens of 
Lower Norfolk county about 1680 was James Thclaball, 
a native of France. Dr. John Fontaine, residing in Vir- 
ginia in 1686, was a native of Rochelle. About the same 
date, a band of Frenchmen, driven from their country by 
religious persecution, settled at Brcnton, but the greater 
number in a short time removed to Maryland. Among 
the clergy of Virginia at this time were Revs. Stephen 
Fouace, James Boisseau. and Lewis Latane. In 1688, 
John Foissin, who was born in Paris, owned a store in 
llrnrico county, which contained a varied assortment of 
rare French goods, such as muslin neck-cloths, silk- 
fringed gloves, embroidered waistcoats, lace and velvet 
caps, lace shirts and ruffles, and the like. During the 
same year, Bertram Servant, a wealthy planter of French 
origin, resided in Elizabeth City count)- ; among other 
citizens of the same county, in 1692, were David Du Puy, 
Gyles Du Berges, and James Lascelles. Philip Pardoe 



260 The Social Life of Virginia. 

and Richard de Barry owned plantations in Isle of Wight 
county. 

The largest number of Frenchmen who ever emigrated 
to Virginia in a single body, came out in 1700, and set- 
tled at Monacan above the Falls of the James River, but 
they arrived too late to exercise any social or political in- 
fluence on the history of the Colony during the seven- 
teenth century. 

Although there was a continuous commercial inter- 
course between Virginia and Holland down to the pas- 
sage of the Second Navigation Act, neither the Dutch 
nor the German emigration to the Colony in -the seven- 
teenth century attained the proportion even of the French. 
In the first place, Holland was a Protestant country, and 
religious persecution played no part in prompting many 
of its people to remove to alien colonies over sea ; in the 
second place, New Amsterdam naturally attracted to it- 
self nearly all those Dutchmen who sought fortune in the 
West. Nevertheless, a considerable number of both 
Dutch and Germans settled in Virginia from time to time, 
drawn thither, no doubt, in the course of the tobacco 
trade. In 1653, there were so many natives of the low 
countries residing on the Eastern Shore that Deputy-Gov- 
ernor Claiborne found it necessary to protect their lives 
and property from the hostility aroused against them 
among the people at large by the war which had just 
broken out between England and Holland. In 1657, tne 
most highly educated citizen of Northampton county was. 
perhaps, Dr. George Nicholas Hacke, a native of Cologne. 
John Sigismond Cluverius, probably also of German birth, 
was at this time the owner of a considerable estate in 
York county. Among the residents of the Eastern Shore 
in 1660 were Hugh Cornelius Corneliuson, Hendrick 
Wageman, Daniel Derrickson, Peter Jacobson, Abram 



in the Seventeenth Century. 261 

Van Slot and Abram Jansen. Five years later, a large 
addition was made to the laboring population by the ar- 
rival of the Dutch soldiers, who were captured when New 
Amsterdam fell into English hands. These were distri- 
buted among the planters. In 1666, Henrick Van Dover - 
acke resided in York county. Among those obtaining 
naturalization at this time were Andrew Herbert or Ho- 
bart, John Young, William Martin. Bartholomew Engel 
bockson, Lawrence Van Slott, Henry Wagemaan, Nich- 
olas Koch, Thomas Harmanson, Mindert Doodes, Hen- 
drick Fayson, Herman Kelderman, John Peterson, and 
Michael Vallandigham. Thomas Harmanson, a native of 
Brandenburg, became a citizen about 1622. A consid- 
erable number of the Dutch immigrants had been citizens, 
of England before they settled in Holland, or were 
sprung from Englishmen who had become Dutch citizens. 
This was the case, apparently, with John and William 
Custis, of Accomac, and William Moseley, of Lower Nor- 
folk county. 

Traces of the presence among the English population 
of the Colony of other Continental peoples beside the 
Dutch and German are hardly observable. One of the 
persons arriving with the first supply was Edward 
gana, probably of either Italian or Portuguese descent. 
Of undoubted Italian origin were Bernardo and Vincen- 
zo, the two Venetians imported by the London Company 
in order to manufacture glass. Albino Lupo, whose 
brother was a merchant of London, was perhaps of Por- 
tuguese blood. Amaso de Tores was probably a Spanish 
Jew. Among the persons residing in Lancaster county 
in 1652, were John Pedro, and Silvedo and Manuel Rod- 
reguez ; in Rappahannock county, Giacimo Debello, 
Edward Mazingo, and Richard Iago. 



262 The Social Life of Virginia. 

In 1690, many Irishmen captured at the Battle of the 
Boyne were imported into Virginia as agricultural ser- 
vants. A like addition to the population had been made 
during the supremacy of Cromwell at an earlier date. 
But the most important emigrants from Ireland settling 
in the Colony in the seventeenth century were men of 
English blood, whose fathers had received grants of con- 
fiscated lands in that unfortunate country, or who had 
removed thither in the course of business. Such was 
Daniel Gookin, who, in 1622, patented lands at Newport 
News, and such, no doubt, were Anthony Lawson, of 
Lower Norfolk, and others whose names might be 
mentioned. 



INDEX. 



Abbot, 41. 

Adams, 203. 

Addison, 183. 

Alford, 230. 

Alington, 50, US. 

Allan, 108. 

Allerton, 89, 100, 180. 

Andros, 20, 132. 

Archer, 40. 

Armorial Bearings, ll>6. 

Arundell, 118, 258. 

Ashton, 73, 90. 

Aston, 51. 

Awburne. 195. 

Ayscough, 241. 

Bacon, 53, 59, GO, 95, 101, 107 

108, 153. 159, 251. 
Bailey, 41, 95, 181. 
Baker. 199. 
Hall, 97. 
Ballard, 132. 
Barber, 113. 200. 
Bargrave, 75. 
Barhani. 99. 
Barkshyre, 236. 
Barlowe, 203. 
Barnard, - r )">. 
I '.any, 2G0. 
Barton, 220. 
Bascom, 192. 
Bassett, 59. 108. 
Bathurst, 00. 
Batte, 75, 91. 107. 20fi. 
Beachamp, 90. 
Beadle, 42. 
Beckingham, 153. 
Bennett, 55, 91. L07. 
Bentley, 41. 



Berkeley, 60, 81, 107, 158, 178, 

187. 
Bernard, 55. 
Beverley, 53, 72, 101, 107, 114, 

132, 159, 1G3, 176, 215, 225. 
Biggs, 140. 
Bishop, 77. 
Blair, 207. 231. 
Blanehard, 44. 
Bland, 63, 91, 107, 248. 
Boisseau. 259. 
Boiling, 93, 107. 
Bolton, 75. 
Booth, 51, 95, 117. 
Bouchler, 48. 
Boulware, 224. 
Bowman, 112. 
Bradlock, 85. 
Brain, 189. 
Branch, 207. 
Blanker, 166. 
Brent, 63, 237. 
Brenton, 259. 
Brett, 63. 
Brewer, 85, 89. 
Brewster, 40. 
Briere, 259. 
Bridger, 76. 
Bristow, 248. 
Broadhurst, 70. 
Brodnax, 76, 77, 189. 
Brook. 

Brough, 119. 
Broughton, 100. 
Brown, 0. 
Browne, 40, 122. 
Bruce, 128, 129. 
Buckner, 94. 132. 
Bullock, 34, lis. 194. 
Burnhara, 118. 



264 



INDEX. 



Burrus, 230. 

Burwcll, 107, 132. 

Bushrod, 155, 236. 

Byrd, 5, 79. 91, 107, 122, 124, 

127, 133, 147, 152, 163, 170, 

175, 180, 190, 209, 223,251. 
Calthorpe, 54, 107. 
Calvert, 98, 150, 247. 
Carter, 73, 223. 

Cary, 64, 93, 101, 107, 113, 132. 
Cavialiers, 31, 61, 76, 79. 
Chamberlaine, i33, 189, 209, 

204. 
Charlton, 118, 233. 
Cheate, 184. 
Cbeeseman, 118, 149. 
Chesley, 151; see Chesney. 
Chesney, 96. 
Chew, 86. 
Chicheley, 61, 107. 
Childers, 204. 
Chilton, 190. 

Claiborne, 51, 88, 107, 118. 
Clamm, 138. 
Clarke, 63, 150. 
Clawson, 237. 
Clayton, 5, 107. 
Clemens, 200. 
Clement, 116. 
Cluverius, 260. 
Coats of Arms. 105. ct seq. 
Coeke, 100, 107, 130, 174, 188, 

204, 206, 207, 209. 
Codd, 63. 
Codrington, 42. 
Cole, 107, 109, 222. 
Collin, 95. 

Contanceau, 196, 259. 
Contee, 259. 

Corbin, 71, 90. 132, 180. 
Corneliuson, 260. 
Cox, 74, 139. 
Cralle, 259. 
Crews, 96. 
Crosby, 152. 

Croshaw, 49, 118, 121, 161. 
Culpeper, 65, 77. 
Curie, 119. 
Custis, 24, 261. 



Dale, 58. 

Daniel, 128. 

Danneline, 224. 

Darby, 186. 

Davison. 48. 

Day, 143. 

Dearlove. 192. 

Death, 89. 

Debello. 261. 

Denham. 134, 245. 

De La VVarr, 42, 103, ei seq. 

De Long, 259. 

Derrickson, 260. 

Dewey, 99. 

Dickenson, 166. 

Digges, 58, 107, 158, 160, 162, 

163-5. 
Dimthorne, 114. 
Dixon, 114, 214. 
Doodes, 97, 261. 
Douthat, 74. 
Du Barges, 259. 
Lmdiey, 124. 
Dunn, 188. 
Du Puy, 259. 
Dutch, 260. 

East, 190. 

Eaton, 116. 

Edwards, 74. 

Elam, 112, 193. 

Ellington, 151. 

Emerson, 153. 

Engelbockson, 261. 

Eppes, 119, 120, 131, 207, 209 

220, 245. 
Evelyn, 70, 153. 

Fairfax, 182. 

Farrer, 107, 130; see Ferrer. 

Fauntleroy, 106, 159, 177. 

Fawsett, 186. 

Fayson, 261. 

Featherstone, 41, 193. 

Felgate, 44, 89, 118, 121, 211. 

Fellowes, 96. 

Ferrer, 87, 100; see Farrer. 

Finch, 52. 

Fisher, 191. 



INDEX. 



265 



Fitzhugh, 5, 34, 65, 74, 91, 101, 
107, 10S, 127, 147. 158,161, 
163, 180, 237. 

Fleet, 48, 107. 

Fontaine, 259. 

Foote, 95. 

Forbesson, 259. 

Forrest, 230. 

Fouace, 259. 

Fowke, 79. 

Fox, 76, 246. 

Foxcroft, 97. 

Francis, 149. 

Freeman, 94. 

Gainge, 97. 
Gardiner. 199. 
Gargana, 261. 
Gastwick, 65. 
Gawin, 192. 
Gerard. 180. 
Gibbes, 47. 
Gills, 249. 
Godby, 114. 
Godson, 259. 
Godwin, 189. 
Goode, 111. 
Gookin, 262. 
Gower, 40. 
Grand, 259. 
Graves, 152. 
Green. 69. 
Greenspring, 158. 
Griffin. 153. 163. 
Griffith, 92. 
Griggs, 220. 

Grove, 220. 

Hack,-. 247.-2f-0. 
Hackett, 135, 240. 
Hall, 146, is:;. 
Hammond, 70. 
Hamor, 87, lis. 122. 
Hardiman, 2t»d. 
Harmanson, 99, 261 . 
Harmar, 74. 

Harper. 41. 

Harrison, 12. 72. 77. 132. 207 
231. 245. 



Hartley, 200. 
Hart ridge, 198. 
Hartwell, 180. 
Harvey, 45, 52. 
Harwat, 94, 202. 
Ha r wood, 118. 
Hatcher, 205. 
Hayden, 6. 
Haynie, 197. 
Haywood, 90, 191. 
Hether&all, 146. 
Heyman, 66, 123. 
Higginson, 89. 
Hill, 166. 
I lint on. 52. 
Hobart, 261. 
Hodge, 153. 
Holland, 114. 
Holt, 42. 
Honeywood, 76. 
Honeyman, 59. 
Hooke, 116. 
Howard, 143, 186. 
Huddlesey, 207. 
Humphrey, 196, 200. 
Hurst, 230. 
Hutchings, 115. 

[sham, 62, 150. 

Jackson. 47. 

Jacob, in. - .. 

Jacobson, 200. 

James, 6, 115, lis. 

Jansen, 261. 

Jefferson, 208. 

Jennings, 64, 107. 

Johnson, 1 1 l. 1st. 

Johnston, 220. 

June-. 76, 90, 112. L75 

.Ionian. 98, 150, 174,221, 225. 

Juxon, 7"'. 

Keith, 6. 
Kelderman, 261. 
Kemp, 
Kendall, 99. 
Kenner, 196, 
Kennon. 1 12. 122. 



266 



INDEX. 



Killingbeck, 41. 
Kingsmill, 107, 108. 
Knight, 151. 
Koch, 261. 

Lamsden, 114. 

Landon, 79. 

Langley, 221. 

Langston, 77. 

Lascelles, 259. 

Latane, 259. 

Lawson, 115, 262. 

Laydon, 230. 

Lear, 70. 

Lee, 56, 90, 93, 107, 122, 149, 

180, 251. 
Leigh, 42, 132. 
Lempriere. 259. 
Lightfoot, 74, 132. 
Ligon, 190, 204, 205-6. 
Littleton, 55, 122, 160. 
Lloyd, 86. 
Loekey, 92. 
Lord, 100. 
Lovell, 149. 
Ludlow, 62, 107, 161. 
Ludwell, 20, 63, 91, 107,249. 
Luke, 65. 

Lunsford, 61, 65, 77. 107. 
Lupo, 261. 
Lyddall, 60. 
Lytcott, 55. 

McCarty, 166. 

Maearty. 138. 

Madison, 225. 

Major, 238. 

Ma'llory, 116. 

Manning, 233. 

Maplesdin, 149. 

Marable, 132. 

Markham, 233. 

Marshall. 46, 100, 192, 205. 

Martin, 261. 

Mason, 48, 79, 10S, 149. 

Mathews, 52. 

May, 149. 

Mayplis, 244. 

Mazingo, 261. 



Meader, 201. 

Menifie, 86, 116, 122, 245. 
Merchants, 36, 83, et seq. 
Meriwether, 145. 
Michael, 221. 
Milburn, 98. 
Milner, 107, 193. 
Minor, 97. 
Molesworth, 76. 
Montague, 75. 
Montgomery, 98. 
Montone, 259. 
Morris, 100. 
Morryson, 20, 53. 
Moon, 66, 151. 
Moseley, 109, 166, 261. 
Mountney, 114. 
Munford, 92. 

Napier, 207. 
Newell, 191. 

Newman, 75. 

Nicholson, 244. 

Norton, 42. 

Norwood, 5, 36, 58, 76, 172. 

Nottingham, 99. 

Page, 71. 101, 107, 153, 180. 

Par doe, 191, 259. 

Parke, 70, 107, 171. 

Parker, 155, 182, 206. 

Parkes, 46, 123, 201. 

Pargiter, 149. 

Patrick, 128. 

Pawlett, 46. 

Peachey, 70. 

Peake, *60. 

Pedro, 261. 

Pennington, 40. 

Perkins, 41. 

Perrin, 100. 

Perry, 93. 

Peterson, 261. 

Pettigrew, 259. 

Pettit, 259. 

Peyton, 63, 67, 94, 107. 

Phelps, 42. 

Philpot, 42. 

Piersey, 86, 158. 



INDEX. 



267 



Pinder, 75. 

Place, 66, 123. 

Pleasants, 190. 

PluVier, 259. 

Pocahontas, 49, 139, 230. 

Poole, 118. 

Pooley, 225. 

Pope, 114. 

Porter, 189. 

Pory, 46. 

Poulter, 149. 

Powell, 114. 

Prat, 42. 

Price, 202. 

Pritehard, 166. 

Proctor, 179, 202. 

Piyor, 74. 

Puckett, 136. 

Purifoy, 155. 

Quiney, 87. 

Reade, 54. 

Randolph. 78, 107, 119, 120, HO, 

180, 193, 207. 
Ranson, MS. 
Ravenscroft, 99. 
Richardson, 233. 
Robine, 188. 

Robinson, 7f>, 107, 151, 155. 
Rodreguez, 261. 
Rolfe, 48. 139, 230. 
Roscoe, 231. 
Rosegill. 58, 159. 
Rossingham. 16. 
Rowlett, 192. 
Royall, 191. 
Rozier, 259. 
Russell, 41-2. 
Rydeing, 69. 

Sal ford. 114. 
Sandford, 95. 
Sandys, 40, 1 18. 
Saunders, 118. 
Saweis, 114. 
Scarborough, 6 1. 
Sebrell. 259. 
Servant. 259. 



RD 1.7* 



Sharpe, 188. 

Shelley, 47. 

Sherman, 100. 

Sibsey, 114. 

Singleton. 75. 

Skipwith, 61. 

Slader, 194. 

Slaughter, 6. 

Smalley, 99. 

Smith, 20, 25, 41-2, 59, 73, 95 

122, 224. 
Smithfield Church, 240. 
Soane, 192, 207. 
Spelman, 47, 118. 
-Spencer, 65, 101, 107, 114, 124 

180. 
Stallinge, 245. 
Stanard, 6, 50, 56, 115. 
Stanford, 92. 
Stephens, 65, 24b. 

is, 76, 219. 
Stewart. 191, 208. 
Stone, 189, 197. 
Story, 100. 
Strachey, 48. 
Street, 112. 
Sturgis, 99. 
Sullivant, 199. 
Sully, 114. 
Sutton, 209. 
Swaney, 116. 
Swann, 201. 

Tanner. 201. 

Tatum, on. 

Taylor, 114, 122. 132, 150,237. 

Teakle, 182. 

Tench, 116. 

Thelaball, 259. 

Thomas, 138, 240. 

Thompson, 50, 86, 1 18. 

Thoroughgood, 52, in-_>. 107 

] 10. 251. 

Thorpe, is, no. 

Throckmorton, 1". is. 58, 107, 

Thurston, 107. 

Timson, 96. 

Tiplady, 127. 

Tores, 261. 



268 



INDEX. 



Travera, 200. 
Trellnian, 201. 
Tucker, 47, 86, 107, 118. 
Tyler, 6, 77, 105. 

Utie, 118. 

Vallandigham, 261. 
Van Doveracke, 261. 
Van Netson, 247. 
Van Slot, 2G1. 
Vaulx, 92, 138, 201. 
Vincent, 220. 

Wageman, 200. 

Walke, 100. 

Walker, 149. 

Wall, 219. 

Waller, 40. 

Wallis, 149. 

Walthrop, 40. 

Ward, 104, 188, 208. 

Wardley, 95. 

Warnet, 164. 

Warren, 158, 221. 

Washburn, 99, 100. 

Washington, 61, 92, 107, 198. 

Waters, 118, 145. 

Watkin, 154. 

Webb, 136, 191, 207. 

VVelsford, 61. 

West, 41. 46, 52, 107. 

Westgate, 236. 

Westover, 46. 

Wheeler, 145. 

Whitaker, 48. 



Whiting, 123. 

Wilkins, 99. 

Wilkinson, 186. 

Williams, 238. 

Williamsburg, 113. 

Willis, 159. 

Willoughby, 48, 97, 107, US. 

120, 159. 
Wilson, 112. 
Windebanke, 54. 
Wingfield, 40, 115. 
Withington, 140. 
Wise, 99. 
Womack. 204. 
Wood, 2.V.). 
Woodhouse, 52, 10/. 
Woodward, 59. 
Woorey, 05. 
Worley, 41. 

Wormeley, 57, 123-4, 159. 
Worsley, 49. 
Wotton, 40. 
Wraxall, 85. 
Wyatt, 61, 107, 113. 
Wythe, 116. 

Yarington, 42. 
Yate, 44. 
♦Yeamans, 66. 
Yeardley, 45-6, 100, 118, 172. 
Yeates,*233. 
Yeo, 70. 
Vewoll, 197. 
Young, 261. 

Zouch, 51. 



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